Lowlifes

Last Friday, August 10, 2018, I attended a court just to get myself familiar with the environment that I would be working in the following Monday and Tuesday. I simply watched the proceedings as they unfolded without any expectations. After a while, 10 fresh cases were called and 10 females in their 20s emerged one by one behind bars.

The accused were charged for breaching their conditions of stay in Hong Kong by taking up employment. Nine out of 10 pleaded guilty to their charges. Hearing the brief facts of the cases, I learned that they entered Hong Kong on August 8, 2018 from Mainland China, were caught working the next day, and appeared in court the following day.

During mitigation, I heard about their background - a majority of them were married and had children. One or two among them appeared remorseful, as they could not hold their tears when their hard-luck stories were told. Their fellow accused were also curious about the antecedents - probably the first time they knew about their family circumstances.

For those guilty-plea accused, they were sentenced to two months imprisonment and the one pleaded not guilty was not granted bail. When I tried to look at the other two men in the audience, they looked away from me. Did they feel their moral culpability, particularly if they were the husbands or facilitators of the lowlifes?