British engineer appears in court over death of Lantau cows

A British engineer is accused of failing to furnish police with details on a traffic offence, after eight feral cows died in a hit-and-run accident on Lantau in June.

Sarah Wilson, as the registered owner of a private car, was to have submitted a police form within 21 days of a crash, Tsuen Wan Court heard yesterday. The form required Wilson to state her name, address, driving licence number and relationship with the offending driver.

It is unclear whether Wilson, 49, was behind the wheel at the time of the Lantau crash, or whether her car was the one that rammed into the cattle.

"The form is mainly for registered car owners to disclose to police who was driving the vehicle at the time the offence took place," Eric Cheung Tat-ming, principal law lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, said.

"Police usually do not have concrete evidence as to who the driver was. So they need help from the registered owner."

Wilson did not enter a plea yesterday to a charge of failing to provide police a statement on demand by June 26, after a notice was served to her over the June 5 incident. On the day of the crash, a resident found the animals lying around the Upper Cheung Sha beach section of South Lantau Road, where the speed limit is 70 km/h. A police report was made at about 3.30am.