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SCMP Reporter

Death not caused by dangerous driving, magistrate rules
A driver said to have suffered a momentary lack of concentration when his heavy truck killed a  12-year-old boy in the Yuen Long community of Fairview Park has been fined HK$5,000 and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Tuen Mun magistrate Stephen Smout imposed the penalty on an emotional Chow Ping-cheung, 43, for careless driving, after acquitting him of the more serious charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Kam Ho-wah, 12, who was cycling to school with his elder brother against the traffic flow, was crushed to death by Chow's truck as it made a left turn from an unnamed road into the eastbound lane of Fairview Park Boulevard on January 31 last year.
The truck rolled over the bicycle, the boy's left leg and then his head, causing immediate death, the court heard.
The death caused a storm of controversy over the use of Fairview Park Boulevard, a private road, by heavy traffic - which is still continuing.
Delivering the verdict, Mr Smout said Chow could have seen the boy and avoided hitting him if he had paid enough attention to his left side as he made his turn.
But he accepted that Chow could not devote all his attention to the left side, as he also needed to look out for the traffic coming from his right.
He said the deficiency in Chow's driving came into the category of careless rather than dangerous.
The magistrate also accepted that Chow had made his turn at a slow speed after hearing from witnesses that it took him seven to eight seconds to complete the manoeuvre.
He also took into account that Chow had stopped at the T-junction before making the left turn, and that part of Kam's bicycle was on the carriageway at that time. Defence counsel Peter Pannu argued earlier that discarded tyres piled on the roadside had obstructed Chow's manoeuvre.
But the claim was rejected by government forensic expert Cheng Yuk-ki, who reconstructed the accident.
Dr Cheng concluded from his series of tests that the truck's front wheel touched the front wheel of the boy's bike, which had stopped on a kerb at the end of the pavement outside a pub, where the tyres had been laid. The truck continued to move until its rear wheels ran over the pavement.
Dr Cheng found in his study that Chow should have had an  unobstructed view of the boy from the driving seat with three sets of rearview mirrors, which allowed views of blind spots if the boy stood within 1 to 4 metres of the truck.
In mitigation, Mr Pannu said the accident had resulted from a momentary loss of concentration, as his client also needed to pay attention to the traffic on his other side.
Mr Pannu also submitted several mitigation letters for Chow, including one from his employer.
During  mitigation, Chow appeared very agitated, necessitating a short adjournment. He also appeared emotional as he left the court.
In sentencing, the magistrate said he had taken into account the loss of a young life and the emotional devastation done to the dead boy's family, while also considering  the circumstances and Chow's culpability.



Truck driver who killed boy, 12, fined HK$5,000