Man facing MTR fire charges disrupts trial
An unemployed man accused of starting a fire on a MTR train was forcibly removed from a courtroom three times yesterday after he disrupted the proceedings with frequent outbursts.
The trial judge told the Court of First Instance jury he was considering putting Yim Kam-chung in a separate room with video links to the court room so that the trial could continue without disturbance.
Yim, 68, who has pleaded not guilty to arson and is representing himself without a lawyer, protested repeatedly that he was being treated unfairly.
Mr Justice Louis Tong Po-sun had to speak through a microphone linked to an amplifier so that he could be heard over Yim's interruptions.
Yim refused to be quiet or leave the court room and he was carried out three times by two Correctional Service Department officers but brought back each time.
Yim claimed the jury selection was unfair because he was denied the opportunity to examine the cards drawn by a law clerk in picking jurors. Prosecutor Arthur Luk SC told the jury that a fire broke out about 9am on January 5 last year in the first carriage of a MTR train shortly after it left the Tsim Sha Tsui station for Admiralty station.