11 months in jail for speeding Hong Kong driver whose tram overturned, leaving 11 in hospital
Lo Chi-leung says he plans to quit the profession and become a baker, after being disqualified from driving for two years
A young driver whose actions left 11 people in hospital last year when his tram overturned as he was speeding home was jailed for 11 months on Wednesday after telling a court he would quit and start baking.
Lo Chi-leung, 24, nodded at District Court judge Isaac Tam Sze-lok as he was disqualified from driving any vehicle for two years following his guilty plea to one count of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
Lo was slammed by the judge for putting passengers of a public vehicle at risk with his “bad driving”. On April 6 last year he failed to apply the correct speed while negotiating a bend near Bank Street in the Hong Kong financial district of Central shortly after midnight.
But the judge acknowledged that inexperience might have contributed to the “very serious” case and gave Lo a one-month reduction on his sentence. An initial jail term of 20 months had already been shortened by a third as credit for Lo’s timely guilty plea.
Wednesday’s sentencing came after a background report revealed Lo had suffered from depression in the aftermath of the incident as he felt very remorseful.
The District Court also heard that Lo started driving trams due to his love for buses and aspiration to become a bus driver, but that he had since resigned from operator Hong Kong Tramways, determined to become a baker after his discharge from prison.