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Pair are found to have caused the death of two passengers while racing each other

Two minibus drivers who ran a red light and crashed while racing each other last year have been convicted of causing the death of two passengers by driving dangerously.

District Court Judge Bernard Whaley  yesterday also found  the drivers - Poon Wing-kay,  30, and Liu Chun-pong,  25 - guilty of causing injuries to their passengers by racing.

The charges arose from a crash in North Point on October 22 last year in which two of Liu's passengers were killed.

'It is a spontaneous competition or race ... in an effort to overtake one another,' Judge Whaley said in convicting the pair, who had denied the charges in their trial, which began early last month.

He said that as the traffic was relatively light at the time of the crash, Poon and Liu had been 'emboldened to rush through several traffic lights' along King's Road.

In the accident, at the corner of King's Road and Healthy Street East about 5.45am, Poon's bus rammed a taxi and then hit Liu's bus, which flipped onto its side.

Lee Lai-chuen,  23, and Lung Lai-hon,  58 - who had been passengers in Liu's minibus - died later that day. Fifteen other passengers aboard the two minibuses suffered various injuries, mostly cuts and bruises.

Lung's wife, who was in court to hear the verdict, said  the drivers deserved their punishment. She also said she would seek compensation from the drivers through civil proceedings.

The court heard earlier that two minibuses were travelling at high speed side by side in adjacent lanes as they  went through a red traffic light on the corner of Healthy Street East and King's Road, with Poon's bus slightly ahead of Liu's.

Liu then accelerated with the intent of overtaking Poon's bus.

Chung Kam-fook,  a 50-year-old passenger of Liu's vehicle and himself a minibus driver for almost 21 years, had said in the trial that on that morning, near Tong Chong Street,  a minibus from the adjacent lane cut into the lane of the minibus driven by Liu,  who was forced to  slow down.

Mr Chung, who  suffered minor abrasions on both arms and his back from the crash, said he  had feared the chase between the two could lead to a collision. 'I held tight onto the back of the seat in front of me ... to be prepared in case of a collision.'

Liu's bus then began to accelerate, chasing the minibus that had just  overtaken his along King's Road at more than 50km/h. Both buses sped through several red traffic lights during the chase, the court heard.

Mak Wing-kang, a passenger on Poon's bus, had told the court that Poon had been driving  as if there were no traffic lights on the road.   The bus had sped through several red lights in  North Point at up to 70km/h.

Earlier in the trial the court heard that when the taxi crossed the intersection from Healthy Street East, the left front corner of Poon's bus crashed into the front of the taxi.

After  colliding with the taxi, Poon's minibus swerved to the right and hit Liu's minibus, causing it to flip over and land on its left side across the tram lines.

Sentencing  was set for December 22.



Minibus drivers guilty over fatal crash