Jury rules diner dies of natural causes over 'saliva spoon' incident

A diner who put a spoon in his mouth before putting it in a public sugar bowl and collapsed after a quarrel with a man sharing the same table died of natural causes, a five-person jury ruled.

The 58-year-old diner, Wong Man-kuen, died months after a fight with another diner, Leung Po-sai, who shared the same table at a restaurant at Shun Tin Estate, Kwun Tong, on October 10, 2015.

Today is the last day of the four-day death inquest at the Coroner's Court.

Judge Philip Wong Wai-kuen offered five causes to the jury: unlawful killing, lawful killing, accident, natural causes or open verdict.

According to the testimony of a doctor, Wong's brain was severely damaged, causing other organs to malfunction, but this was not the direct cause of Wong's death.

A forensic examiner pointed out that an angioma, a tumor derived from cells of vessel walls, was rupture. However, whether the tumor was ruptured by Leung during their fight is unknown.

Judge Wong instructed the jury that if they determined the death was unlawful killing, they must find as such beyond reasonable doubt.

For an unlawful killing verdict, there are five conditions that must be fulfilled: that the tumor was ruptured by external force, the rupturing of the tumor was caused by Leung's actions, Leung broke Wong's tumor on purpose, Wong risked being injured and that Leung's actions at the time were illegal.

The jury believed that Wong died of disease and that the tumor ruptured because of other natural factors, such as increased blood pressure. They therefore ruled that Wong died of natural causes.

Wong and Leung argued in the restaurant after the latter caught the former putting a spoon in his mouth before putting it into a sugar bowl meant for public use. Wong then ambushed Leung outside the restaurant as Leung was leaving. They had a fight and Wong fell to the ground. Wong had been in the hospital since then and he passed away on January 16, 2016.