Boat Captain Imprisoned For 15 Months And Fined $7,000 For Killing A Female Passenger

In October, the captain of a speedboat reportedly pleaded guilty to the boat being overloaded, misleading the police inquiry but not endangering the lives of others in an accident almost three years back and reportedly resulting in the death of one of the passengers.

On 25 November, he was reportedly sentenced to 15 months in prison. The District Court fined $7,000.

Three years back, on 19 October 2019, a businessman reportedly drove an overloaded speedboat with the classmates and friends of his children to swim in the waters of Tai Long Sai Wan, Sai Kung. It also suspected that the speedboat got hit by rough waves and washed up on the beach.

A 52-year-old woman passenger was swimming during the incident. The businessman reportedly turned the speedboat around as soon as he could, which caused the propeller to hit her. It was such a deep wound that her spleen and lungs were exposed, and she lost her life the same day.

Afterwards, to cover up the fact that the speedboat was overloaded, the businessman had instigated five friends and other relatives on the boat to report to the police that there were 11 passengers onboard. The businessman was then charged with seven counts. He further admitted one count of violating restrictions and conditions and five counts of reportedly inciting others to mislead the police in the District Court but denied a count of endangering the safety and security of others at sea.

The judge highlighted that the defendant denied that his behaviour resulted in the accident, and he couldn’t ask for a reduction in sentence because the death of a friend brought immense grief to the family. After some consideration, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $7,000.

The 56-year-old defendant Dong Bo further admitted that back in 2019, on 19 October, as the captain of the pleasure boat dubbed “Miss Conduct Junior”, he reportedly violated the restrictions on the vessel’s license and overloaded the boat.

He admitted that from 19 October to 8 November 2019, he reportedly incited five individuals to mislead the police, stating that there were 11 people on the boat.

For the charge that the defendant denied, the individual ended up endangering the safety of the accident victim as well as others, i.e., when they were in the waters close to the boat, the defendant started the engine of the ship and reportedly drove the boat away, the judge had ruled earlier that the defendant must have been aware that the deceased was in the water, but he chose to get the engine started and turn the boat away. The ruling was that the actions endangered the dead’s safety and security and then convicted him.

The judge said that the defendant had ignored the boat’s capacity and decided to go ahead and start the engine when he reportedly sailed into the wave area and encountered huge waves. Still, he did not signal his friend, resulting in her death. The judge also pointed out that the defendant denied his behaviour and believed the incident was not his fault, so he could not ask to reduce the sentence on such a ground.

References: Hong Kong Buzz

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Source: Maritime Shipping News