The only workers held criminally responsible for Hong Kong's worst industrial accident walked free yesterday when their convictions were declared unsafe.
Site safety supervisor Tam Ping-cheong, 38, and technician Kwong Tim-yau, 46, were convicted of manslaughter after 12 workers died when a passenger hoist failed on a North Point construction site in 1993.
But yesterday they were cleared by the Court of Appeal.
Mr Justice Noel Power, sitting with Mr Justice Barry Mortimer and Mr Justice Simon Mayo, said there was a 'lurking doubt' over Mr Tam's conviction. Mr Kwong's guilty verdict was declared unsafe because of a serious misdirection given to the jury by the trial judge, the court heard.
Fighting back tears as he left court, Mr Kwong said: 'I am very happy and very relieved.' Both men served only a few weeks of their sentences before being released on bail pending appeal.
The lift plunged from the 20th floor of the partly built Hong Kong and China Gas building in Java Road on June 2, 1993.
Mr Tam and Mr Kwong were convicted of manslaughter on the basis of gross negligence.
