Robber who assaulted bus driver jailed

A robber was jailed for six years and four months yesterday after hitting an off-duty bus driver on the head with a blunt machete, taking his bag and wounding a taxi driver with the same weapon as he tried to get away.

Wong Hiu-man, 24, blamed his actions on his failure to find a job after being released from prison, an argument with his girlfriend, and having taken the drug 'ice' on the day of the attack.

He pleaded guilty to wounding bus driver Kwok Chi-keung with the machete as the victim resisted the snatching of his bag on December 9 last year. Mr Kwok spent a day in hospital. Wong admitted robbing Mr Kwok in Choi Wan Estate.

He also pleaded guilty to wounding taxi driver Law Shu-kwan as he tried to get away in Mr Law's vehicle in Old Clearwater Bay Road.

Mr Justice Peter Nguyen rejected the defence's argument that the robbery was not a so-called 'head-bashing case', which attracts a benchmark sentence of eight years in jail.

The term was cut by one-third to five years and four months to reflect Wong's guilty plea.

The judge ordered the sentence be served concurrently with the 16-month jail term on the charge of wounding Mr Kwok, but consecutive to the 12-month term on the charge of wounding Mr Law.