A 22-year-old Australian was due to appear in a Hong Kong court Monday on charges of murder after a taxi in which he was a passenger was involved in fatal crash, according to dpa. The expatriate, identified by local media as Kelsey Michael Mudd, was the front-seat passenger in a taxi which broke through a crash barrier and collided with three other cars early Saturday morning. The accident is believed to have taken place after a dispute between Mudd and the taxi driver, a 58-year-old father of two who was declared dead hours after being taken to hospital. After paramedics removed the taxi driver and tried to treat Mudd's injuries at the scene, he allegedly jumped into the driver's seat and drove the taxi off into the path of oncoming traffic. The taxi traveled only about 50 metres before colliding with another taxi, injuring the 44-year-old driver of the second cab. Two female passengers in the taxi were ininjured. Mudd was initially arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, but was charged with murder after being questioned in a custody ward in hospital, a police spokesman said. He is due to appear before Hong Kong's Eastern Magistrates Court on Monday morning, the spokesman added. Mudd was pictured by local newspapers Sunday sitting dazed in the passenger seat of the battered taxi with wounds to his head from the initial accident, shortly before he allegedly attempted to drive off.
