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Magistrate Li Kwok-wai ruled in Eastern Court that a letter from Roewe Lok Wai to Yiu Wai-ho could be read as a threat to expose the psychic as a fraud, rather than as a death threat.

Businessman cleared of intimidating psychic

A businessman convicted of starting a fire at a fortune-teller's office was yesterday cleared of intimidating the psychic, whom he blamed for breaking up his family by giving him false prophecies.

A businessman convicted of starting a fire at a fortune-teller's office was yesterday cleared of intimidating the psychic, whom he blamed for breaking up his family by giving him false prophecies.

Magistrate Li Kwok-wai ruled in Eastern Court that a letter from Roewe Lok Wai to Yiu Wai-ho could be read as a threat to expose the psychic as a fraud, rather than as a death threat.

Lok, 42, had been sentenced to 28 months in prison for starting the fire at Yiu's Wan Chai office last year. After his early release, he wrote to Yiu on July 31 using expressions such as "apocalypse" and "you're digging your own grave".

But Li described the words used as "obscurities" and noted that the letter "did not include wordings such as to 'kill', 'slash' and 'shoot'".

The expressions could be a reference to Lok's threat to leave the fortune-teller's "reputation in tatters" and his "credibility bankrupt", the court heard.

Li also said the letter could have been an attempt to reconcile with Yiu, better known as Yeung Tin-ming. Lok had cited that as his intention in an interview under caution with police, pointing to a newspaper article in which Yiu had expressed regret at Lok's jail sentence.

After declaring Lok not guilty, Li told him: "You need to think about how to move on."

The magistrate mentioned photographs Li showed him during the trial, which depicted the healthy life his ex-wife and two sons led in the United States.

"Perhaps go to visit them one day," the magistrate told Lok.

Outside court, Lok praised Li for being objective, and told reporters he would never be superstitious again. He said he was planning to set up a new business in the construction industry. The court case last year heard that Lok had been told by Yiu he could make billions by moving his business from Hong Kong to Shanghai, but instead lost everything.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Businessman cleared of intimidating psychic
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