Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Accomplice testimony and corroboration

Legal area

Court

25 Jul 2007

HKSAR v. YAU CHUN HUNG

Citation

HKSAR v. YAU CHUN HUNG
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC517/2006

The convictions were upheld because the trial judge correctly accepted the credible testimony of immunized accomplices corroborated by independent material evidence (entries in the applicant’s diary and payment into a colleague's account); the sentencing start point based on drug weight and purity was appropriate and increased for abuse of position; leave to appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed and three months of the appeal period were ordered not to count under section 83W due to abuse of process.
15 Jan 1996

THE QUEEN v. CH\'NG POH

Citation

THE QUEEN v. CH\'NG POH
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC333/1994

Leave to adduce additional evidence was refused because the proposed evidence was inadmissible or not well capable of belief and would only impugn credibility of accomplice witnesses without dispositive corroboration; late disclosure of ICAC tapes was an irregularity but not material to the jury's decision because tapes were peripheral and would not have altered overwhelming circumstantial evidence; the summing-up was fair and convictions were safe and therefore appeal dismissed.
19 Oct 1989

THE QUEEN v. LOK MAN CHIU AND OTHERS

Citation

THE QUEEN v. LOK MAN CHIU AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA1180/1989

The convictions for living off the earnings of prostitution were quashed because the magistrate failed to consider whether PW1 was an accomplice and to warn himself about the need for corroboration, making those convictions unsafe; the convictions for assisting in the management of a vice establishment were upheld because independent evidence established prostitution at the premises and PW1 was not an accomplice in relation to those charges; the confiscation order was set aside because there was no record that the magistrate was satisfied items were used in connection with the s139 offence.
24 Jan 1985

THE QUEEN v. CHEUNG SAI HUNG AND ANOTHER

Citation

THE QUEEN v. CHEUNG SAI HUNG AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC314/1984

The convictions were quashed because the appellants' convictions depended primarily on a discredited accomplice whose evidence lacked adequate independent corroboration, and that pervasive doubts about senior police conduct and the circumstances of evidence recovery rendered the prosecutions unsafe; the Court therefore allowed the appeals and set aside convictions and sentences.

Hong Kong Case Law

HKSAR v. YAU CHUN HUNG

THE QUEEN v. CH\'NG POH

THE QUEEN v. LOK MAN CHIU AND OTHERS

THE QUEEN v. CHEUNG SAI HUNG AND ANOTHER