A woman who filed a case against neighbors for burning incenses outside the door of her Lai Chi Kok Bay Garden residence will receive a compensation of HK$75,000 for the distress, health hazard and inconvenience she had to endure.

The district magistrate on Friday ordered that Hui Sim-mei, the accused, can burn only environmentally friendly incenses twice a day and that each time the activity should not last more than 30 minutes.

The judge said the smoke and smell from the burning incenses had caused Hu Wei-hsin headaches and difficulty in breathing and added that the complainant had also suffered considerable stress because she had had sleep problem at night.

The judge said the court respects people's right to religious rituals, but is of the view that they must not cause inconvenience to others.

Hu Wei-hsin sought an injunction on Tuesday to prevent her neighbors from burning incenses outside her apartment door and also sought HK$100,000 in damages from Hui's family, saying the smoke produced by burning incenses caused premature birth of her baby, and also that the infant's health has since been affected as a result.

Hu's baby, who was born two weeks prematurely in March, weighed only 1.8 kilograms.

The baby has also had breathing difficulties and doctors believe that the incense smoke could be a reason.

Hu said she was thus restricted from going out to avoid inhaling the incense smoke and the associated health risks.

Hu's husband also told the magistrate that her neighbor would often sweep the ashes of the burned incense to her apartment door and use swear words to curse his family when praying.

The court said Hui's behavior has caused disturbance to her neighbor but added a compensation of HK$100,000 that she sought is too much considering that the nuisance didn't last long.

China Daily

(HK Edition 06/04/2011 page1)