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Bereaved family members tearfully perform rituals for their lost loved ones aboard a ship off Lamma Island where the disaster happened in October, 2012. Photo: Sam Tsang

'I am no longer angry, but I miss my son': a mother's grief after Lamma sea tragedy

How anger gave way to an aching sense of loss for Irene Cheng, whose son died in the ferry disaster

Thomas Chan

The first time she set eyes on the two skippers behind the fatal collision that killed her son, Irene Cheng fell into a fit of rage.

Two years later, the anger has dissipated. But not the tears and the aching sense of loss, said Cheng as Lamma IV captain Chow Chi-wai and Sea Smooth coxswain Lai Sai-ming yesterday learnt of their fate after a nine-member jury spent 34½ hours deliberating on their culpability in the manslaughter trial.

"I fell into a fit of rage when I saw them at the commission of inquiry as if I had seen two killers," she said, recalling the moment she met Chow and Lai for the first time after the collision.

"But today, I no longer have such angry feelings."

Chow and Lai were behind the sterns when the two vessels collided on National Day 2012 and claimed 39 lives, including her 24-year-old son Thomas Koo Man-cheung and his girlfriend Chan Wing-yee.

The young couple were part of a group of Hong Kong Electric employees who were on an excursion to view the fireworks in Victoria Harbour.

Unlike in 2012, when Cheng attended every single day of the 50-day hearing held by the commission of inquiry appointed by the chief executive, she hardly went to court during the manslaughter trial of the two skippers. She went on the first day in November and last week, when the legal teams summed up their cases.

"I am no longer angry when I see them again. But I do miss my son," Cheng said, as she fought back tears.

Speaking ahead of the verdict, she said: "I would accept no matter what the verdict is. I just hope they will not appeal."

She said that the coxswains had already borne responsibility for their actions by being charged and standing trial.

"Prosecuting them already meant some respect for the deaths," she said. "Inflicting a heavy punishment on the two skippers would not make me feel more relieved. But it would be have a deterrent effect on other mariners."

Cheng, who became a full-time mother after Koo was born, said she had survived the toughest days - the year following the collision.

During that time, she had to cope with the grief of losing her son and muster the energy to exchange countless letters with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, the Transport and Housing Bureau, Department of Justice and Marine Department.

"It was very tiring. They kept procrastinating and offering excuses," she recounted. "We were joking that we were pen friends with those officials."

Cheng has long been demanding the release of an internal investigation report on the Marine Department. But she said she still had not received the document.

"I am not one of those urging the government to call off the [National Day] fireworks display every year. But I was delighted to see the cancellation," Cheng said.

On whether she would pursue any civil claims against Chow and Lai, Cheng said that she would discuss the matter with her lawyer.

She said she would look further into the structural defects of the Lamma IV, such as a missing watertight bulkhead and unsecured chairs, mentioned during the trial in considering future legal action.

Last May, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said the police would submit a report on Marine Department officials implicated in the ferry disaster to the Department of Justice in three months.

After that, he said, Director of Public Prosecutions Keith Yeung Kar-hung would take three months to study the report to determine whether to press charges against the officials.

Last Wednesday, the department said it would make a decision on whether to prosecute the officials by the end of this month.

Despite the verdicts, Cheng said she and her family are far from finding closure.

"It is difficult … as I still have to follow up on the matter," she said. "Perhaps some day I could at last find closure when everything comes to an end."

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: A mother's grief
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