22 summonses over hoist death plunge
A COMPANY yesterday faced 22 summonses in Eastern Court in connection with the deaths of 12 workers in a Quarry Bay hoist plunge last June.
No plea was taken from Aoki Corporation. The 22 summonses include allegations of failing to ensure testing and examination of a passenger hoist, failing properly to maintain a hoist and failing to provide and maintain a safe system of work.
Magistrate Jonathan Acton-Bond adjourned the case until March 8 for plea after defence counsel Jonathan Harris sought adjournment.
Competent examiner Tsui Pan also appeared in court on summons for allegedly delivering a false certificate. The case against him was adjourned indefinitely on application from prosecutor Caroline Ravenscroft. Tsui has been granted immunity from prosecution and will testify for the Crown.
Site safety officer Yip Wing-cheong pleaded not guilty, also in Eastern Court, to a summons for allegedly failing to take reasonable care of other people. Trial was fixed for April 21.
Early last month, a representative from Ajax Engineers and Surveyors Ltd of Kowloon Bay, which faces a summons for corporate manslaughter, appeared in court. Also in court that day were four men who each faced separate charges of manslaughter. The caseswere adjourned until February 17.
