Lamma ferry disaster: Ship inspector found guilty of perjury over evidence to inquiry
Judge says Wong Kam-ching deliberately misled the inquiry, and says his memory ‘expanded from no recollection to detailed recollection’
A retired senior ship inspector accused of giving a false statement to an inquiry into the Lamma ferry disaster has been found guilty of perjury.
Inspector Wong Kam-ching, 61, told the inquiry in 2013 that he was satisfied with the number of children’s life vests on Lamma IV when he inspected the boat for the Marine Department six months before the tragedy. But there had not been any children’s life vests on board from the day it was bought until the disaster, the District Court had heard earlier.
On Monday Wong was found guilty of one count of perjury, which he had denied.
Lamma IV sank after colliding with Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry’s Sea Smooth, killing 39 passengers, on October 1, 2012.
Wong had earlier said an employee from Cheoy Lee Shipyards, tasked with doing maintenance work on Lamma IV, had brought children’s life jackets on board on the day of the inspection for the sole purpose of passing it – a practice called “prop boat”.
But Judge Timothy Casewell rejected this suggestion, saying that it would have been cheaper for Hongkong Electric, owner of the Lamma IV, to equip the boat properly than for their staff to conspire in fraud.
He also said Wong’s evidence boasted “an exaggerated narrative with an expansive nature”.
Repeatedly, both before the inquiry and the District Court, Wong was asked about the existence of the children’s life vests, Casewell said.
Initially, Wong went from having no recollection but knowing that there were children’s life jackets on board, to being able to vaguely remember the life jackets were on the upper deck of the boat, the judge recalled.
“The details the defendant provided have expanded from no recollection to detailed recollection,” he said, adding that Wong’s act was deliberate and that he had been trying to maintain the fiction he made up.
On Monday, Casewell also ruled that the testimony Wong gave at the inquiry was “material”, in that it was possible to influence the court’s decision in determining the number of children’s life jackets on board and coming up with safety recommendations.
He sought reports to study Wong’s background before sentencing him on February 25.
