Man pleads guilty over fatal car accident
A man who killed a taxi driver after driving 1km in the wrong direction on Connaught Road Central pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of dangerous driving causing death.
A charge of failing to provide a breath specimen was dropped after no evidence was presented.
Computer operator Raymond Yik, 28, had been drinking at Glenealy in Central before driving two passengers on November 12 last year, the Eastern Court heard.
Yik disobeyed a left-turn-only sign and turned right from Pottinger Street to Connaught Road Central, where he drove east on the westbound lane with his headlights turned off.
He missed two cars during his 1.1km drive in the wrong direction before the fatal collision with the taxi.
The first car, a taxi, managed to avoid Yik's vehicle after Yik cut into his lane.
The taxi driver hooted his horn at Yik after the near-miss and estimated Yik had been travelling at about 60km/h.
Yik continued to drive in the wrong direction and encountered a truck, whose driver was forced to brake hard. He honked at Yik, but Yik continued driving.
The truck driver managed to escape a collision but a taxi behind him was not as lucky.
Yik's car hit Po Hoi-chi's vehicle head-on.
Po was severely injured and was certified dead at Queen Mary Hospital.
Yik and his passengers suffered light injuries and were discharged from hospital the same day.
In mitigation, Yik's lawyer told Magistrate Anthony Yuen Wai-ming that Yik was remorseful and that the accident had greatly affected him.
Letters from Yik's sisters, employer and friends were forwarded to the magistrate.
Mr Yuen adjourned sentencing to September 28 for a community service report. Yik was remanded in custody.
