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SCMP Reporter

A 61-YEAR-OLD debtor who plunged to his death was unlikely to have been pushed or thrown from a fifth-floor landing, an inquest heard yesterday.

  A coroner's jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure on businessman Mr Lam Kam-ting, who died of multiple injuries. He was found in a courtyard at Yau Tong Estate, Kwun Tong, on November 23.

  Forensic expert Dr Wong Yiu-chung said Mr Lam's landing position and the bloodstains indicated he could have fallen straight from the outer wall of the building.

  If Mr Lam had been pushed, Dr Wong said the force would have driven him further away from the wall.

  ''The possibility of the deceased having been pushed or thrown out from the fifth floor is rather remote,'' he said.

  It was possible Mr Lam had fallen accidentally or killed himself.

  The officer in charge of the case, Detective Inspector Mark Johnson, had failed to identify the cause of the incident.

  He said three men who went to collect the debt from Mr Lam did not have criminal backgrounds.

  Witnesses saw two of the men, Mr Chan Chun-tak, 24, and Mr So Ching-wah, 25, go to a fifth-floor flat to look for Mr Lam. They stressed the men were very polite.

  During the two-day inquest, the court heard Mr Lam was playing mahjong in the flat when Mr So identified him with the aid of a photograph.

  They were later joined by Mr Chan Yuet-hing, the younger brother of the creditor, Ms Chan Yuet-ping, on a staircase landing.

  Mr So later went with Mr Chan Yuet-hing to call Ms Chan, asking her to go to the scene to confront Mr Lam.

  Mr Lam, who owed Ms Chan between $800,000 and $1 million, claimed that a Mr Chan had cheated him of all his money, the court was told. Ms Chan had earlier agreed to give 20 per cent of the money collected to Mr Chan Chun-tak and Mr So as a reward.

  Mr Chan Chun-tak said Mr Lam suddenly rushed upstairs while he was guarding him.

  He said he chased Mr Lam and found him climbing over a wall on a fifth-floor landing.

  He tried to drag Mr Lam back, but only managed to grab his jacket, he added.

  The court heard he shouted for Mr So, but Mr Lam slipped out of his jacket and fell to the courtyard.

   Inspector Johnson said Mr Lam's injuries were consistent with Mr Chan Chun-tak's version of the incident.



Expert's theory on debtor's death