The Coroner’s Court today returned the verdict on the cause of death of the passengers involved in the vessel collision incident near Lamma Island in 2012. The Government said it is closely monitoring the delivery of the verdict.
The delivery of the verdict is to be continued and the Government will continue to study the judgment.
In a statement, the Government said it attaches great importance to the incident, after which investigations at various levels have been conducted. It also noted that the Marine Department has implemented all practicable recommendations in the investigation reports to enhance maritime safety to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.
After the incident, Police commenced a criminal investigation and arrested the coxswain of “Sea Smooth”, Lai Sai-ming, and the coxswain of “Lamma IV”, Chow Chi-wai, in October 2012. In February 2015, Chow Chi-wai was convicted of endangering the safety of others at sea and Lai Sai-ming was convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter and a count of endangering the safety of others at sea.
Separately, former senior ship inspector of the Marine Department Wong Kam-ching and then Assistant Director of Marine So Ping-chi, were placed under arrest in March 2015 and subsequently convicted of the offence of perjury and the offence of misconduct in public office in February and June 2016 respectively. So Ping-chi was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, with his appeal succeeded and his sentence reduced to 4.5 months, while Wong Kam-ching was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment.
When considering whether to conduct a death inquest in 2020, the Coroner’s Court ruled the deaths as unlawful killing.
