A Correctional Services Department worker injured on the job has won an apology and a $10 million payout from the department.
Ko Tai-chu, now 39, was an assistant officer with the department when he was injured on October 20, 1998. His lawyers told the Court of First Instance yesterday he was working in the office of the physical education room at Sha Tsui Detention Centre when parts of a false ceiling fell and struck his head, neck and left shoulder. He was unconscious for almost 15 minutes.
Mr Ko had months of hospital treatment and was discharged in March 1999. Doctors said he had 53 per cent physical impairment.
Mr Ko, who left the department in June last year, received $1.7 million in compensation two years ago but was not satisfied with the settlement and took legal action seeking a larger payout and an apology.
The department's counsel, Paul Lam, told Deputy High Court Judge Poon Shiu-chor yesterday that the government admitted liability for the accident and would pay $10 million in compensation.
'The defendant [the government], having agreed to pay compensation to Mr Ko in a sum agreeable to him, would like to express on behalf of the government and the Commissioner of Correctional Services her apologies and sympathies to Mr Ko and Mrs Ko for what had happened to them as a result of this accident,' he said.