Hong Kong taxi driver pleads guilty over role in crash that killed 2 pedestrians, injured 4 at busy road crossing in 2021
- Mok Pui-wa pleads guilty to two counts of manslaughter and four of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm over crash in Tai Po in August 2021
- His taxi slammed into busy pedestrian crossing after he accelerated to overtake cars, with pregnant woman and 4-year-old boy among those hit
The High Court on Wednesday heard that 66-year-old Mok Pui-wa had accelerated as he approached the pedestrian crossing, where the traffic lights were red, as he tried to overtake cars ahead of him.
His taxi slammed into six pedestrians, including a pregnant woman and a four-year-old boy, who were walking across Kwong Fuk Road in Tai Po, on August 22, 2021.
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Mok pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and four of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
He previously faced a charge of dangerous driving causing death, which the prosecution amended to manslaughter.
Mok’s counsel told the court that the defendant had worked as a private driver for nearly 50 years, and only drove taxis on weekends over the past four decades.
The defendant felt “deep regret and guilt”, and apologised to the family members of the deceased, the lawyer said.
But Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai said evidence showed Mok was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the mechanical parts of his taxi were in order.
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“I cannot think of any other reasons than the defendant being hasty,” he told the defence.
Car camera footage showed that Mok had veered from his lane to the opposite side of the road before his taxi hit a safety island.
A 59-year-old man was killed at the scene while a 63-year-old woman died in hospital a day later, according to a fact sheet available in court.
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Among the four injured pedestrians, a pregnant woman suffered a brain haemorrhage and skull fracture, but did not miscarry the baby.
Chan said no mitigating factors should be considered in this “serious” case except for the timely guilty plea.
But he noted that few car accidents involving fatalities ended in charges of manslaughter, hence the starting point for the sentence required further study.
He adjourned the case to February 22 for sentencing and ordered both parties to submit case references from the Sentencing Council in the United Kingdom to help the court.
