The widow of lawyer Lim Keng-yip, who fell to his death from the flat of former actress Mary Jean Reimer Lau, believes her late husband was 'a victim of false gossip' and that his relationship with Mrs Lau was a working one, an inquest heard yesterday.
Lim had climbed through a window on to a ledge outside the seventh-floor flat after Mrs Lau's husband, stunt director Lau Kar-leung, returned home unexpectedly on November 2 last year. The inquest has heard he said he climbed out the window to avoid a 'misunderstanding' over his presence in the flat.
His widow, Lim Siu-mei, a mother of three, said Lim was a 'good and loving husband and father' who had always treated his family as 'his No 1 priority'.
According to her statement read out in the Coroner's Court yesterday, Mrs Lim told the police on December 3 last year that her husband had described Mrs Lau, then a trainee solicitor at Johnson, Stokes & Master, as a 'very hardworking and ambitious' woman.
Lim, 50, a partner with the law firm, died of multiple injuries the day after falling to the 3rd-floor podium.
Coroner William Lam Kui-po heard that Lim went to Mrs Lau's flat in Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan, to help her pack law books on November 2 last year.
According to Mrs Lim's statement, she was not greatly bothered by media reports at the time about Lim's supposed relationship with Mrs Lau. She said her husband had told her that the newspapers were targeting Mrs Lau, a former television celebrity.