Hong Kong prosecutors drop manslaughter charges against tour guides over death of mainland Chinese visitor
Prosecution lowered charges to assault after prosecutors accepted victim had died of a heart attack
Two tour escorts allegedly involved in a dispute at a Hong Kong jewellery shop that led to the death of a mainland tourist last year are no longer accused of unlawful killing after prosecutors accepted the man had died of a heart attack.
Hong Kong tour escort Ricky Woo Yin-nam, 44, and Shenzhen tour guide Liu Yang, 32, faced several counts of lesser assault charges on Wednesday after prosecutors scaled down their charges from manslaughter, Kowloon City Court heard.
READ MORE: Mainland tourist dies day after being ‘beaten unconscious’ while intervening in fracas at Hong Kong jewellery shop
The prosecutors revised the charges after being informed by a forensic pathologist that 54-year-old Miao Chunqi had died of a heart attack.
Woo and Yiu had originally been accused of killing Miao in a tussle that broke out at the D2 Jewellery Shop in Hung Hom in October last year.
Liu and Woo were both charged with common assault on Wednesday. Liu pleaded guilty to four counts, while Woo denied two counts.
Liu admitted assaulting Miao and his friend Zhang Lixia. He will be sentenced on Friday. Woo will attend a pre-trial hearing on March 30.
