Tai Long Wan Photo: Urban Outdoors
Three years ago, on 19 October 2019, a businessman drove an overloaded speedboat with his friends and children’s classmates to swim in the sea in Tai Long Sai Wan, Sai Kung.It is suspected that the speedboat was hit by strong waves and washed up on the beach. One of the passengers, a 52-year-old woman, was swimming at the time of the incident. The businessman turned the speedboat around quickly, causing the propeller to hit her. The wound was so deep that her lungs and spleen were exposed and she died the same day.
The police discovered that the boat was overloaded, but in order to cover this up, the businessman arranged for five relatives and friends who were on the boat to falsely report to the police that there were only 11 passengers on board. The businessman was charged with seven offences. The case was heard in the District Court on Wednesday (5/10). The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of breaching conditions and restrictions and five counts of inciting others to knowingly provide false information to mislead a police officer, but denied one count of endangering the safety of others at sea.
The defendant, aged 56, admitted that on 19 October 2019, as the captain of the open-top pleasure vessel “Miss Conduct Junior” in Hong Kong, he violated the vessel’s licence restrictions by overloading passengers; and, from 19 October to 8 November, inciting five of the passengers to mislead the police, saying that there were only 11 people on the boat involved. As for the charge denied by the defendant, he endangered the safety of the deceased and others in the nearby waters, namely when they were in the waters near the vessel, the defendant started the engine of the vessel and drove the vessel away. The facts of the case allege that the defendant incited five fellow shipmates to provide false information to the police from 1 to 2 days after the accident, so the five people did not mention to the police that classmates of the five defendant’s children were also on board.
The prosecution’s opening statement stated that at about 4:00pm that day, the defendant drove the speedboat involved to carry some passengers to Tai Wan, Tai Long Wan, Sai Kung. The weather was good that day and the view was clear. When the boat went to a location near the beach, the deceased was in the water at the time. The waves pushed the boat so that the port side of the boat was facing the beach. The defendant restarted the boat’s engine and turned the boat to the right. The deceased and others were still in the water. The propeller of the boat hit the deceased in the back. She passed away at 5:00 pm on the same day.
The hospital report showed that the deceased had five severe injuries on her back, upper arm and buttocks, exposing her lungs and spleen, and multiple fractures on his body. Experts pointed out that if a person in the water is less than five metres away from the boat, it will be dangerous to start the engine.
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