Gamer on trial over MTR bomb messages calls them 'emotional nonsense'
A 31-year-old man is on trial for allegedly threatening to bomb Admiralty MTR Station during a League of Legends match, which he says was impulsive venting after in-game harassment. The prosecution alleges premeditation, with a verdict due on October 30.
A 31-year-old former hospital patient care assistant went on trial at Eastern Magistrates' Courts on Friday, accused of sending messages in the online game League of Legends threatening to bomb Admiralty MTR Station on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Chung Chi-long pleaded not guilty to communicating false information as to a bomb. Testifying in his defence, he said he had uttered "emotional nonsense" and blurted out the remarks without thinking after facing persistent verbal taunts and humiliation from an in-game opponent.
The prosecution countered during cross-examination that sending three interconnected messages within a single minute demonstrated premeditation and a deliberate attempt to instil public panic. Magistrate Gary Chu Man-hon adjourned the case until October 30 to deliver the verdict.
Chung described how he had been playing League of Legends on his mobile phone on the afternoon of January 27 when he was randomly matched into a team with four other players. During the match, an opponent using the screen name Left Hand Right Hand Slow Motion, identified as complainant surnamed Wong, repeatedly killed Chung's champion. Each time his character was defeated, the opponent circled and stepped on his avatar's body in an insulting manner while spamming question-mark stickers and mocking emojis, culminating in a bitter team defeat.
Chung recounted that when he subsequently entered a new matchmaking queue, the system randomly assigned Wong as his teammate. Wong immediately attacked Chung's gameplay in the team chat, deriding his performance as "useless" in his assigned role of jungler. The disparaging remarks prompted other team members to turn against Chung with profanity and verbal abuse, ultimately causing the team arrangement to fall apart.
Chung explained that when he entered matchmaking for a third time, he was paired with Wong yet again. Still reeling from the prior provocations, he felt overwhelmed by anger and impulsively typed out the three disputed statements in quick succession to vent his frustration, with no genuine intention of planting an explosive device at Admiralty MTR Station. He characterised the messages as rapid-fire nonsense produced solely as an emotional release in less than a minute.
Following the match, Wong sent Chung a friend request, which Chung accepted. In private chat messages, Wong revealed that he had captured screenshots of the remarks, prompting Chung to ask incredulously whether anyone could possibly take trash-talk in an online game seriously. After Wong threatened to ruin him, Chung immediately blocked the user.
Under questioning from the prosecution, Chung reiterated that the messages were simply a means to express pent-up anger rather than a credible threat. When the prosecutor questioned why he had broadcast bomb threats to an open chat room rather than directing insults specifically at Wong, Chung maintained that he was merely making wild, foolish remarks within the context of gaming banter. The prosecution highlighted that the three messages were spaced twelve seconds and thirty-one seconds apart, suggesting a structured chain of thought aimed at causing widespread alarm in a bustling public transit hub.
Chung disputed this interpretation, insisting that he acted entirely without contemplation in the heat of anger and emphasising that nobody participating in online gaming ever takes such heated rhetoric seriously. Chung, who now works as a part-time fitness coach, denies communicating false information with the intent to induce others to believe that a bomb or explosive device was placed at Admiralty MTR Station on January 27.