Jail time cut for man in fatal fight at disco
A man jailed for 81/2 years for his part in a fight that left one person dead and another seriously injured has had one year knocked off his sentence.
Lai Ka-lung had pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and a further two counts of wounding stemming from a fatal fight outside the 100 Feel Disco in Portland Street, Mongkok, on August 5, 2001.
Lai played a major role in the fight between him and four accomplices and three other men that began over a small amount of money and ended with the death of Wong Pui-tat and the serious wounding of the other two members of the opposing group, Wu Wing-shing and Lam Kwok-kit.
Lai fled over the border after the incident and was only apprehended when he returned last year. He was sentenced to five years each for the wounding charges and to 10 years with a 15 per cent discount for the manslaughter charge, all to be served concurrently.
Justices Gareth Lugar-Mawson and Wally Yeung Chun-kuen dismissed Lai's claims that his sentence was overly severe compared with other members of his group and that the sentencing judge had adopted too severe a starting point for the manslaughter charge.
'For a dispute over a small amount of money, [Lai] together with others inflicted extreme violence on the victims,' the judges said. 'The physical violence was such that Wu and Lam were seriously injured and the deceased died almost immediately from the rupture of his heart and liver.'
'[Lai's] unlawful and vicious conduct must be deterred.'
However, the court agreed with Lai that he had received too little a discount for his guilty plea.
