Lethal bucket wilfully hurled
A bucket of paint that came crashing down from a building site and killed a young office worker last year was deliberately thrown out of a window, a government expert told the Coroner's Court yesterday.
Pang Suk-fong, 20, was hit on the head and killed instantly by the bucket of white paint that plunged at least 35 metres from the construction site of Harbour Plaza North Point hotel on August 28 last year.
Government chemist Kwok Nai-chu testified that the bucket had been thrown deliberately from a window of the partially-built hotel by an unknown person.
Mr Kwok had conducted five field tests at the construction site and found it would not have been possible for the bucket to have fallen accidentally from the window to hit Pang, who was standing about seven metres away from the building.
'Unless it was deliberately thrown out, the bucket would have fallen only one metre away from the building. It must have been thrown out by someone who was standing at least 35 metres from the ground,' he said.
Mr Kwok said he had examined the window of a hotel room on the 32th floor, where a bucket of white paint was reported missing, and found that someone had loosened the window hinge. This made it possible for the window to be opened much wider and for the bucket to be able to go through it, he added.
It required an effort to push the bucket out even if it was placed close to the window, ruling out the possibility that a strong wind made the bucket fall, Mr Kwok told Coroner Andrew Chan Hing-wai.
The scaffolding had been removed that day, making it easier for falling objects to hit the ground, according to Yue Chiu, representing Bold Win Construction, which was responsible for the building works.
The hearing continues today.
