PLA soldier repeats insult in court allegedly made by accused barracks trespasser

A People's Liberation Army soldier repeated a Cantonese insult in court yesterday and imitated a gun gesture with his fingers which he alleges was done by a 29-year-old man accused of trespassing in the PLA barracks.

Eastern Court was shocked when Wu Peng, who claimed to understand only a little Cantonese and had been testifying in Putonghua, uttered a vulgar expression in Cantonese with a northern accent, when asked by the prosecutor what exactly was said that day.

Wu said he saw the first trespasser - whom he recalled as a bespectacled man of slight build in his twenties and about 1.8 metres tall, wearing a black jacket - was facing him when he swore.

The trial of the Boxing Day trespass on the PLA Central barracks entered its third day yesterday. Three of the four accused on Monday admitted entering a closed area without a permit.

The other defendant, Billy Chiu Hin-chung, 29, has pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

When questioned by prosecutor Jonathan Man Tak-ho, Wu said he got a good look at the defendant's face and that an video clip and the barrack's CCTV footage shown in court accurately portrayed what had happened during the alleged trespassing.