Fire Services driver Yiu Chi-ming claimed an eye disease and a taxi roof reflection were to blame for the death of cyclist Benjamin Restrepo

The fire truck driver who killed American adventurer Benjamin Restrepo in Sai Kung in 2020 was today sentenced to four weeks jail, with a favour granted from magistrate Lau Suk-han to class the sentence as remand time, not prison time, to protect the defendant’s public housing queue status.

Yiu Chi-ming, 58, was driving a fire engine along Hiram’s Highway on 6 December 2020 when he apparently lost control and struck cyclist Benjamin Restrepo, 60, killing him.

At trial for dangerous driving causing death, Yiu claimed he suffered from an eye disease which limited his view of the cyclist. He also blamed a reflection from a taxi roof which, he said, caused him to veer suddenly into Restrepro.

At sentencing today, 144 fire fighters wrote letters of support, while Yiu’s superior officers reminded the magistrate of Yiu’s bravery in landmark fire cases including Garley Building in 1996 which killed 41 people and the Amoycan Industrial Centre fire in 2016 which killed two firemen.

The defence also asked for special treatment for Yiu, who had been in a public housing queue for several years. If he was given a prison sentence, they argued, he would lose his place in the queue.

The magistrate said she took into account the “trauma” of the crash for Yiu and agreed for Yiu to serve his sentence as remand time, requesting further background checks into Yiu’s character. Such checks would take several weeks, putting Yiu’s total remand time to four weeks. He was also banned from driving for a year and must take a driving class.

Colombian-born Benjamin Restrepo was a global adventurer who had reportedly been in Hong Kong since early 2020 as part of his bid to cycle around the world. He had recently cycled through many other countries including Russia, China and Tibet, according to his fans.