Police were criticised yesterday for handing the belongings of a lorry driver killed in the Tuen Mun highway landslide in August to a woman claiming to be his wife.
The mistake was only discovered when the wife of Chan Yuk-tin, 43, whose lorry was crushed by a boulder, arrived from Guangzhou.
The belongings have yet to be returned, legislator Albert Ho Chun-yan, the case lawyer, said.
'Since Mrs Chan doesn't know much about her husband's business in Hong Kong, the belongings, including some bank statements, are very important in estimating his income and calculating an amount of compensation in future legal action against the Government and the contractor,' he said.
'It is acceptable that the police may have made some mistakes, but it is irresponsible for them to take no action to rectify the problem.' Mr Ho also criticised the police for delaying legal proceedings since it only submitted a death investigation report to the Coroner's Court last month.
'Legislators received a report on the accident a few months ago. I don't know why the police have to take so long on the investigation,' he said.
