Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Co-conspirators' rule

Legal area

Court

11 Mar 2026

HKSAR v. HU MINGJIE

Citation

[2026] HKCA 405
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC127/2025

The Court held the text messages exchanged between conspirators were admissible as circumstantial evidence (not being led to prove the truth of assertions) and, together with overwhelming independent evidence linking Hui to the conspiracy, there was no material irregularity warranting quashing the conviction; on sentence, the Court applied the revised guidelines, set an appropriate notional starting point for the quantity (27 years 9 months), adjusted for role, culpability, international element and prior convictions where appropriate, applied guilty plea discounts and the totality principle,…
11 Mar 2026

HKSAR v. HUI KA LOK, SAM

Citation

[2026] HKCA 405
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC269/2021

The Court held that the admitted text messages were properly admissible as circumstantial evidence under the principle in Ahern/Oei and not used to prove the truth of assertions against Hui; the judge gave adequate directions and no miscarriage of justice arose, so Hui's conviction was upheld. On sentence, applying the revised Huang Ruifang (No 3) guidelines, appropriate starting points and calibrated role and prior-conviction adjustments led to substitution of Hui's sentence to 32 years' imprisonment and Hu's total sentence to 22 years' imprisonment.