Hong Kong Driver Going 100km/h Kills Student, Gets 22 Months

A Hong Kong court has sentenced Ernest Au Yeung Shiu-hong, an NGO event organiser, to 22 months in prison for dangerous driving that killed 19-year-old student Lisa Pun. The crash happened around 8am on November 7, 2024, at a box junction on On Lok Road in Yuen Long. Au Yeung was driving his Tesla Model Y to work in Tsim Sha Tsui and accelerated to almost 100km/h (62mph) to beat an amber light. The pedestrian light was red when Pun crossed, and she was thrown through the air by the impact.

Pun suffered serious injuries across her body and was pronounced dead in hospital six hours later. On Thursday, the District Court also disqualified Au Yeung from driving for five years. In sentencing, the judge criticised what was described as his “extremely dangerous and irresponsible” attitude — words that carry weight because they focus on the driver's choices, not just the tragic outcome. Speed was the deciding factor: 100km/h in a built-up area with a crossing leaves almost no time to react, whether a pedestrian obeys the light or not.

For anyone who drives, walks or cycles near busy junctions, the case is a reminder of how much damage a few extra seconds of impatience can cause. An amber light means prepare to stop, not speed up. Beating it saved the driver perhaps a minute; the cost was a young woman's life and, now, nearly two years behind bars plus a five-year driving ban.

The case has resonated in Hong Kong, where dense streets mean drivers and pedestrians share very little margin for error. Courts in the city have increasingly treated excessive speed at crossings as an aggravating factor, and this sentence shows that arguing “the light was about to change” offers little protection. Pun's family and the wider community are left with a permanent loss that no sentence can undo.