Mat Yeung Gets 18 Days of Jail Time For Driving Under the Influence

Hong Kong actor Mat Yeung was sentenced to 18 days in prison yesterday for driving recklessly while under the influence. The judge also suspended his driving license for two years with a fine of RMB 3000.

Last August, the TVB actor crashed his Mercedes into a wall and was arrested for driving recklessly. Aside from refusing to take a breathalyzer test, an added charge for having heavily tinted windows that there was “insufficient light” inside his car was included in the list of his transgressions.

Clips of the incident played during the court session showed Mat Yeung driving in the reverse direction, hitting iron fences as well as road signs and walls along the way before rolling to a stop. The judge pointed out that although Mat Yeung did not have any available alcohol concentration data, there’s nary a doubt that the defendant was driving under the influence which in turn caused him to be disconcerted and unable to control his vehicle. Despite being inebriated, the judge said that he still chose to get behind the wheel, the fact that there were no casualities during his drunken rampage was just a fluke.

Mat Yeung’s jail time was originally set to 30 days with no option for probation or to exchange it for community service. However, the sentence was reduced to 18 days after the actor’s lawyer pleaded for a lighter sentence on grounds that the actor is the breadwinner of his family. The actor currently supports his parents with a monthly allowance of 40,000. However, because he is unable to film dramas and movie projects, he hasn’t had any income since last year. Aside from jail time, the actor is ordered to pay a fine of 3,000 for the charge of his heavily tinted window. A 30,000 HKD bail was also set (under appeal) with the judge ordering him not to leave Hong Kong during the time and to take driving improvement courses at his own expense.

Mat Yeung and his girlfriend Lisa Chong were photographed leaving the court house teary eyed and did not give any comments to the media. The actor was originally slated to being filming a movie in the latter half of 2020 but was unable to do so after crashing his car.

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