HKSAR v. LAM KAM HUNG, LAWRENCE

DCCC717/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 717 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Lam Kam-hung, you have pleaded guilty to the offence of causing the death of Madam Tse Ha, an elderly lady of 86 years of age, by your dangerous driving.

2.  The accident that resulted in Madam Tse’s death occurred on a service road inside the Kai Tak Garden Estate in Wong Tai Sin at around noon on 21 February this year.  The speed limit on the service road was 8 kilometres per hour.  The reason for such a low speed limit can only be that being a housing estate, pedestrians including people making deliveries to the estate from their vehicles could be expected to be on the roadway from time to time. 

3.  You were a driver employed by a courier company and had entered the estate driving a company van in order to collect goods from premises in the estate.  You have frankly admitted that you were in a hurry to make this collection and that instead of observing the speed limit you were driving at between 20 and 30 kilometres an hour.

4.  On the way to make this collection in the estate, you drove your vehicle up a road which ended in a T-junction.  This road consists of one lane for traffic travelling in each direction, the two lanes separated, at least insofar as a few yards before the T-junction is concerned, by a broken white line.

5.  You intended to turn right at the T-junction. As you came up to the T-junction, you found that there was a lorry in front of you which was in the course of making a left turn.  Instead of waiting for the lorry to make its left turn and then yourself driving up to the broken lines that marked the junction with the T-junction, in order to pause to see if it was safe to make a right turn, you decided to pass the lorry by driving into the opposite lane intended for oncoming traffic and then making your right turn from that lane.

6.  You have claimed that as you did so, you looked to the left.  What is clear from what occurred is that you could not have looked to your right to see whether anyone was in the lane on the service road that you would have to cross to make your right turn.  Unobserved by you, the elderly Madam Tse was walking very slowly along that lane of the roadway outside the metal barrier separating the pavement from the roadway with her head down. 

7.  It is apparent from the photographs that the oblique angle at which you entered the lane along which she was walking caused your vehicle move towards Madam Tse and hit her, knocking her at least 3 metres across the road.  She later died from her injuries. 

8.  Your conduct thereafter cannot be criticized. You immediately stopped your vehicle and called the police.  When they arrived, you frankly admitted the speed at which you were travelling and how the accident had occurred.

9.  You have never made any attempt to suggest that this tragic accident was other than your fault.  You have pleaded guilty before this court and in a letter you wrote to the court you described the remorse you feel for what occurred and stated, “The accident was totally caused by my haste to perform my job order and my failure to fully check the road situation.” 

10.  I take into account all that has been said on your behalf by Mr Wong and the letters from your former wife, you goddaughter and from the manager and your colleagues at the courier company.  I have no doubt that you genuinely feel great remorse for what occurred. 

11.  While taking into account your remorse, the fact is that an elderly lady has died as a result of you driving in a manner that anyone would have been aware was dangerous.  

12.  The principal consideration for this court when it comes to sentence is the extent of your culpability for what occurred.

13.  I bear in mind that this is not a case where the deceased lady was on a pedestrian crossing.  She was walking on a roadway outside the barrier separating the roadway from the pavement when she could have been walking on the pavement.  However, in doing so, she would have been entitled to expect, bearing in mind the fact that this was within a housing estate where there was a speed limit and a speed hump very close to the point she was walking, that vehicular traffic would be travelling at a speed slow enough to give the driver plenty of time to see her.  Moreover, she would be entitled to expect, bearing in mind the traffic lane along which she was walking, that any vehicular traffic would not suddenly come at her from the front.

14.  Your culpability for this accident lies in the dangerous manner in which you chose to get past the lorry which was in front of you and to enter this T-junction, aggravated by the excessive speed at which you were travelling. 

15.  I cannot ignore the fact that you do not have a good record when it comes to driving.  The record of your previous driving and convictions and traffic tickets indicates 10 previous offences of speeding, three of careless driving and one offence of failing to observe white lines on the road.

16.  You have already suffered a period of disqualification under the Driving Points Ordinance. 

17.  Taking all circumstances into account, I am satisfied that the appropriate starting point in your case is 30 months’ imprisonment.

18.  Your plea of guilty and remorse entitle you to the usual reduction of one-third.  I accordingly sentence you to 20 months’ imprisonment.

19.  I find no special reason in connection with the offence for ordering that you be disqualified from driving other than for 5 years and so you are disqualified for 5 years.  For the same reason, I order that you attend and complete a driving improvement course.