Hong Kong Case Law

香港特別行政區 訴 林顯誠及另一人

Court

District Court

Case number

DCCC1017/2020

Given the procedural posture (case‑stated appeal remitting the matter) and subsequent appellate guidance on drawing inferences from presence at a riot, the court found a material change in the legal context. The proposed evidence by the defendants was relevant to issues the court must now determine, would not unfairly prejudice the prosecution, and would not disrupt the orderly conduct of the proceedings. Therefore the court exercised its discretion to allow the first and fifth defendants to reopen their defence.

Source excerpt

• Riot
• Unlawful assembly
• Use of facial covering
• Reopening defence evidence
• Case‑stated appeal

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HKSAR v. LO LAI CHAU

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC191/2022

The Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal against a murder conviction, holding there was no proper basis for a self-defence direction and no summing-up error.

• Murder
• Manslaughter
• Self-defence
• Provocation (partial defence)
• Jury directions
• Summing-up

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HKSAR v. YEUNG CHUN HIN

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC121/2019

The Court of Appeal allowed a drug-trafficking appeal because the jury was not properly directed on a defence witness’s prior inconsistent statement.

• Dangerous drugs
• Admissions and confessions
• Prior inconsistent statements
• Jury directions
• Hearsay rule
• Retrial

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HKSAR v. RAJA RAJESWARY P KAGASFARON

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC196/2020

Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal on two grounds concerning judicial interventions and the summing-up, but refused leave on lies, silence, and defence-direction complaints.

• Trafficking
• Lies direction
• Right to silence
• Judge interventions
• Summing-up and jury directions
• Dangerous drugs ordinance s4

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HKSAR v. MASIH MALKEET

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC254/2019

The Court of Appeal quashed a drug-trafficking conviction after finding the trial judge failed to correct an improper prosecution submission about lifestyle evidence and gang membership.

• Trafficking
• Dangerous drugs
• Admissibility
• Jury directions
• Retrial
• Lifestyle evidence

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HKSAR v. HO PAK HONG

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC153/2019

The Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal against convictions and sentences for trafficking ketamine, finding no arguable error in the trial judge’s interventions, directions, disclosure issues, or sentencing.

• Drug trafficking
• Use of minor in trafficking
• Fingerprint evidence and disclosure
• Jury directions
• No‑case submission
• Sentence enhancement

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HKSAR v. LEE WAI MAN

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC82/2019

The Court of Appeal quashed Lee Wai-man’s murder conviction after finding the jury had been misdirected on provocation. A retrial on murder was ordered.

• Murder
• Manslaughter
• Provocation
• Diminished responsibility
• Jury directions
• Prosecutorial conduct

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HKSAR v. CHAN HON WING

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC200/2016

Leave to appeal was granted on the language-fairness ground involving simultaneous Cantonese interpretation for jurors, but refused on the jury-direction ground.

• Jury directions
• Inferential reasoning
• Simultaneous interpretation
• Official languages ordinance
• Admissions and vri
• Joint enterprise

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香港特別行政區 訴 揭冠國

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC26/2018

The Court refused permission to appeal: the trial judge's detailed repetition and analysis of the forensic evidence, when read in full context, was a legitimate and balanced attempt to assist the jury and did not amount to advocacy for the prosecution or deny the applicant a fair trial; on sentence, the judge properly reduced the guilty-plea discount because the applicant absconded to the Mainland immediately after the offence, causing extra investigatory burden and delay, and the exercise of sentencing discretion was not interfered with by the Court of Appeal.

Source excerpt

• Intent (mens rea) for murder
• Self-defence
• Trial judge summing-up bias
• Guilty plea discount and effect of absconding
• Admissibility and weight of confession
• Appellate standard of review

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HKSAR v. WONG LONG KI AND OTHERS

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCCC149/2018

The court severed the murder trial after finding that D1’s interview contained irreparably prejudicial material, but kept D2’s trial with D4 on the remaining charges.

• Severance of trial
• Hearsay
• Redaction of evidence
• Prejudice to jury
• Perverting the course of public justice
• Handling stolen goods

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