An abode seeker alleged to have told immigration officers before last year's Immigration Tower blaze 'you will all become roasted pigs' did not sound like he was joking, jurors heard yesterday.
Acting senior immigration officer Fung Tai-kwong said he did nothing about the alleged comment by Sze Kwan-lung apart from motion for his colleagues to move along the corridor outside Room 1301, where the blaze later broke out, into the lift lobby.
Sze did not sound like he was joking, but rather as if he were challenging the officers, as he repeated the threat two or three times as they walked past, Mr Fung told the Court of First Instance.
'You people are not lucky today. You will all become roasted pigs. Today next year will be the anniversary of your deaths,' Mr Fung quoted Sze as having told officers at about 5.30pm on August 2 last year.
'I did not want them to be influenced by such words,' said Mr Fung. He did not notice if any of his about 40 colleagues reacted in any way to Sze's remark.
The officer, who sustained second-degree burns to his face, neck, hands, knees and right arm, said acting chief immigration officer Wong Ka-kwai had previously warned him of the possibility of a fire that day.
However, none of his colleagues suggested confiscating the bottles allegedly containing thinner being carried by the migrants in Room 1301. Mr Fung told barrister Paul Dinan, counsel for Pang Hon-kwan, that he was not thinking of the bottles at the time.