A verdict of accidental death was yesterday returned by an inquest jury on lawyer Ken Lim Keng-yip, who fell from a window ledge of former actress Mary Jean Reimer Lau's flat when her husband returned home unexpectedly.
Lim, 50, died of multiple injuries a day after climbing out of the seventh-floor window and falling from the building in Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan, on November 2 last year.
The jury heard Malaysian-born Lim, a partner with solicitors Johnson, Stokes & Master, apologised to Mrs Lau's husband, stunt director Lau Kar-leung, 66, as he lay fatally injured, saying he climbed out of the window to avoid any misunderstanding over his presence in the flat.
The Coroner's Court heard that Mrs Lau, 37, was Lim's subordinate and a trainee solicitor when gossip about the pair appeared in the media.
Summing up evidence from the three-day hearing, Coroner William Lam Kui-po told the jury to return either an open verdict or one of death by accident.
He reminded the jury to return a verdict of death by accident if they accepted the witnesses' testimony that Lim was careless and fell after climbing out of the window.
Mrs Lau testified on Monday that when her husband began to open the door, she rushed to stop him entering while Lim climbed out the window.