Help Bring Kelsey Mudd Home!

This is my updated statement as of October 28th 2009 which I his father, stand by.

'You may have heard that my son Kelsey, who was visiting Hong Kong from California for the summer vacation doing charity work with kids here, was a passenger in a taxi involved in an accident in torrential rain at the height of Tropical Storm Nuri in the early hours of Saturday morning June 27th. Multiple taxis also collided with this car he was in and Kelsey sustained head injuries as a result of this series of accidents.

His injuries were both front and back and well as cuts to his face and upper lip. He was treated at Queen Mary Hospital for 2 days by neurologists, including a CAT scan, and although still suffering pain he was discharged Sunday afternoon June 28. The driver of the taxi in which Kelsey was a passenger, unfortunately died from injuries some 5 hours after the accident.

Kelsey was detained by police for questioning for some 6 ½ hours and has co operated in supplying blood and urine specimens. On June 30th the police filed charges of murder and Kelsey was remanded in detention pending further investigation by the police. Despite court appearances on July 7 and 27 in the lower court and August 14th in the High Court, no plea has been taken and no evidence for this very serious charge was to be presented. Requests by the prosecution for more time to gather evidence to support these charges and asked for and Kelsey’s Lawyer did not object.

On August 21st in the lower court the prosecution, after reviewing the police investigation, filed an amendment to the charge lowering it to manslaughter, still a serious charge to which Kelsey denies any responsibility. This was accepted by the court, which granted bail and Kelsey was released into his father’s care at 4.30pm that day after 55 days detention in a maximum security prison.

On September 23rd - the prosecution sought a further adjournment due to a delay in completing the pathologist report on the cause of death of the driver.

On October 27rd –four months after the accident - the prosecution delivered the pathologist report -showing no evidence other than death from injuries sustained in a car accident - and the final charge sheet. They will be proceeding with two main charges on an either/or basis, the more serious of one of manslaughter, but they are not confident of proving this so have put down as an alternative to this charge 'Dangerous driving causing death', secondary charges of taking an vehicle without authorisation and drink driving, bail was renewed. Accidents such as this are an all too common occurrence on Hong Kong’s overcrowded roads, where the taxis are poorly equipped ( no airbags, no ABS braking, high annual mileage with poor maintenance) and drivers working long and debilitating hours

In other words this is not ( and never was) a homicide case, but a traffic accident that resulted in the unfortunate death of one of the drivers of the five cars involved, but this has nothing to do with Kelsey as he was a passenger. The entire case depends on the prosecution being able to prove that Kelsey was in fact driving this vehicle. He was not, so will plead not guilty to all charges at the committal.

The next hearing will be on December 4th which will be in the Court of First instance ( the High Court) which is the committal to set the date for the jury trial expected to be no earlier than mid 2010.The full evidence file must be delivered no later than 7 days before that date. Kelsey must remain in Hong Kong