Top judges were yesterday told they could not assess the risk of a pre-dawn walk with only three torches for six people any better than a group of trekkers who did just that.
Walking up White Goose Ridge in Huangshan, Anhui province, was not adventurous or 'inherently dangerous', Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, SC, told the Court of Final Appeal. 'It is not like conquering Mount Everest.'
Father of two Cheung Chung-wai, 46, walking at the back of the group without a torch, tripped over a 10cm ditch on October 25, 1993. He died from neck injuries three weeks later.
His widow, Wong Kit-chun, 56, sued his ex-boss, ailing philanthropist Zai Chung-ling, 88, for $3.85 million in damages, alleging the employer, for whom Cheung was a personal assistant, failed to provide enough torches.
In March last year in the Court of First Instance, Deputy Judge Susan Kwan cleared Mr Zai of negligence, ruling that Cheung would have tripped even if he had been holding a torch.
Last November, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision, holding that responsibility for Cheung's death had to be shared - 80 per cent by Mr Zai and the rest by the deceased.
