Careless driving and tinted windows land actor behind bars

Marco Lam

Hong Kong television star Mat Yeung Ming was yesterday jailed for 18 days, banned from driving for two years and fined for careless driving.

The 40-year-old Yeung was fined HK$2,000 but was granted HK$30,000 cash bail for an appeal by Eastern Court magistrate Daniel Tang Siu-hung.

Under the bail term, he needs to observe a travel ban, stay in his house and report to police three times a week.

Yeung, whose real name is Lam Ming-lok, lost control of his black Mercedes on Magazine Gap Road in the early hours of August 8 last year and crashed into a road sign.

When passing the sentence, Tang said it was lucky no one was injured in such a serious case.

He also told Yeung that the latter had not learned his lesson after being convicted of drunk driving in 2005.

Tang added that it was Yeung's consumption of alcohol that undoubtedly played a part in the accident, causing him to lose control of his vehicle.

In December last year, he admitted to the two motoring offenses but denied a third of failing to provide a blood sample, of which he was acquitted following a trial this March.

After the conclusion of that trial, his then counsel Cheng Huan SC immediately filed an application to reverse his two guilty pleas in an attempt to secure his release, after learning he could be remanded in jail before sentencing. Cheng cited that Yeung had been misled into believing that he would not be sentenced to a term of imprisonment or remanded in custody for the offenses. The magistrate subsequently accepted Cheng's explanation and allowed Yeung to remain out on bail awaiting trial.

Prosecutors lodged an appeal against the magistrate's decision to allow Yeung to back out of those pleas, which was later turned down.

At a review hearing in July, Yeung again decided to stand by his initial decision to plead guilty to the two offenses.

In Hong Kong, careless driving and unlawfully reducing the visibility of car windows are punishable by six months behind bars and a fine of HK$5,000.