Skipper cleared of manslaughter over Hong Kong ferry disaster loses fight for legal costs
Top court upholds ruling against coxswain, who was jailed for endangering the safety of others at sea
Hong Kong’s top court has rejected a skipper’s application to recover part of the legal costs he incurred during his prosecution over the Lamma ferry disaster in 2012.
Chow Chi-wai, 59, was cleared of manslaughter for his role in the disaster, in which 39 people died.
Monday’s ruling upheld the lower Court of First Instance’s decision to refuse Chow, who was coxswain of Hongkong Electric’s Lamma IV, any costs incurred in his defence during the 60-day High Court jury trial from December 2014 to February last year.
The Lamma IV was taking staff members of the power firm and their relatives on an excursion to view National Day fireworks when it collided with another vessel, the Sea Smooth.
Trial judge Brian Keith had explained in February that much – if not all – of the evidence relevant to the manslaughter charges overlapped with that of endangering the safety of others at sea, for which Chow was convicted and jailed for nine months.
Since all charges arose from the same incident and all related to the way Chow navigated his vessel, Keith concluded that Chow’s defence would have been the same even if he had not been charged with manslaughter.
But Gerard McCoy QC, for Chow, argued on Monday that Keith’s ruling overlooked the relative importance of charges – a practice introduced in the English courts since 1973.
He pointed out that the two offences in the case were not based on identical evidence nor did they carry identical penalties. The lesser charge of endangering the safety of others at sea came with a maximum fine of HK$200,000 and four years in prison.
“Why, when there is partial overlapping of evidence, is there complete disentitlement of costs?” McCoy asked.
The extent of overlap, he said, should have been used to apportion costs.
The three Court of Final Appeal justices – Joseph Fok, Roberto Ribeiro and Robert Tang Ching – will hand down a detailed ruling at a later date.
