The defendant Dong Bo arriving at the District Court
In October 2022 a speedboat captain pleaded guilty to the boat being overloaded, misleading the police enquiry but not endangering the life of others in an accident that occurred three years earlier and resulted in the death of one of the passengers. On Friday (25/11) he was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $7,000 by the District Court.
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.
Afterwards, in order to cover up that the speedboat was overloaded, the businessman instigated five relatives and friends on the boat to falsely report to the police that there were only 11 passengers on board. The businessman was charged with seven counts. He admitted one count of violating conditions and restrictions and five counts of inciting others to mislead the police in the District Court, but denied one count of endangering the safety of others at sea.
The judge pointed out that the defendant denied that his behaviour caused the accident, and he could not ask for a reduction in sentence on the grounds that the death of a friend caused grief to the family. After consideration, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $7,000.
The 56-year-old defendant Dong Bo admitted that on 19 October 2019, as the captain of the pleasure boat “Miss Conduct Junior”, he violated the restrictions on the vessel’s license and overloaded the boat. He also admitted that between 19 October and 8 November 2019, he incited five people to mislead the police that there were only 11 people on board the boat involved. As for the charge denied by the defendant, the defendant endangered the safety of the victim and others, i.e. that when they were in the waters near the boat, the defendant started the engine of the boat and drove the boat away, the judge ruled earlier that the defendant must have known that the deceased was in the water, but he still chose to start the engine and turn the boat away, ruling that his actions endangered the safety of the deceased and convicted him.
The judge today said that the defendant ignored the capacity of the boat and decided to start the engine when he sailed into the wave area and encountered huge waves, but he did not warn or signal his friend on the side of the boat, resulting her death in the accident. The judge also pointed out that the defendant denied his behaviour and believed that the incident was not his fault, so he could not ask for a reduction of sentence on this ground.
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