A senior police inspector accused of driving a stolen car and running down a motorcyclist told a judge yesterday he was a newly qualified driver who had had a few accidents. Hui Ka-wing, 29, also said he thought he had hit a concrete barrier when he crashed into motorcyclist Lin Ming-ho, 28, on Ma On Shan Road on May 4 last year. Lin was certified dead in hospital. Hui said he was trying to get into the middle lane when water on the road splashed onto his windscreen, causing him to swerve to the right. 'Then came a 'bang' sound. I held the wheel tightly and carried on driving. I thought I had hit a concrete barrier,' Hui told the District Court. But prosecutor Dee Crebbin alleged Hui's testimony was simply an attempt to explain away his offences. He has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing death, handling a stolen Honda Accord, failing to give a blood sample for laboratory test and using the car without third-party insurance. He has pleaded guilty to failing to stop after an accident. Hui said the May 4 incident was not his first accident. On December 27, 2002, Hui crashed his second-hand Accord on a flyover in Tai Kok Tsui and took it to the dealer for repair and a repaint, for which he paid $20,000. He had asked for a receipt but was never issued with one, he said. 'It was of the same colour and nothing was different,' Hui said. He test drove the vehicle and did not feel any difference, he added. Ms Crebbin alleged that when Hui got the car back, he knew it was a different vehicle. Hui's testimony continues before Deputy Judge Josiah Lam Wai-kuen this morning.
