Australian student jailed for killing Hong Kong taxi driver

Oct 28, 2010, 10:52 GMT

Hong Kong - A 23-year-old Australian student was Thursday jailed for four years and three months for killing a Hong Kong taxi driver in a drunken late-night altercation.

Kelsey Mudd was convicted of manslaughter. Wong Chi-ming, 58, had stepped out of his taxi following an argument with Mudd who the judge said was 'staggeringly drunk' at the time of the incident in June 2009, the High Court heard.

Mudd took the wheel and dragged the taxi driver, who was hanging out of the taxi trapped by his seatbelt, to his death.

He collided with another taxi then attempted to drive off again after paramedics and emergency services arrived at the scene, crashing into another taxi.

He had denied all charges.

Justice Wright, the judge, criticized Mudd for showing no remorse and said his defence lawyer's argument that he was only partly responsible for Wong's death was 'baseless and distasteful.'

Mudd's lawyer had argued he could not be held fully accountable for the taxi driver's death because Wong should not have got out of the vehicle leaving the engine running.

Mudd was born in Hong Kong and holds both US and Australian citizenship.

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