Hong Kong Case Law

香港特別行政區 訴 梁峻邦

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA290/2025

Having reheard the matter on the court‑prima facie evidence and pre‑sentencing reports, and having considered the appellant's age, prior convictions and that he was already sentenced to a training centre for a related matter, the magistrate did not err in principle and the sentence of detention in a training centre was not manifestly excessive; appeal dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Youth sentencing
• Custodial disposition options
• Offence committed while on bail
• Rehabilitation considerations

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香港特別行政區 訴 梁國輝

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA234/2025

The court affirmed that 6 months was an appropriate starting point for each offence given repeated conduct, weapon use and that the victim was a witness, and that a small deduction of 3 days for compensation was warranted; the two offences should run consecutively as they were committed on different dates and involved different elements. However, the trial judge erred in ordering full consecutive execution with the earlier 5‑month sentence without adequately quantifying how much should be concurrent; on totality review the Court ordered 2 months of the prior 5‑month sentence to run concurrent…

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Common assault
• Witness intimidation
• Concurrency and totality in sentencing
• Offending while on bail

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香港特別行政區 訴 黃淦祥

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA71/2024

Photographic and witness evidence proved the appellant intentionally threw eggs and tomatoes causing widespread staining (approximately 1m x 2m) that temporarily impaired the government's building appearance and use; temporary impairment qualifies as 'damage', the appellant had no lawful excuse, and he had the requisite intent or recklessness — conviction must be upheld on retrial standard.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Lawful excuse
• Mens rea (intent/recklessness)
• Standard of review on appeal

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香港特別行政區 訴 陳孝敏

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA112/2024

Appellate court, on rehearing, concluded prosecution proved each element of criminal damage beyond reasonable doubt; trial judge legitimately rejected appellant's accounts as inconsistent and implausible, properly weighed documentary and CCTV evidence and P6/P7, and correctly held appellant lacked a lawful excuse; appeal dismissed and conviction and sentence affirmed.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Lawful excuse/defence
• Right to silence
• Hearsay and documentary evidence
• Witness credibility
• Standard of appellate review

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香港特別行政區 訴 尚幜霖 (又名李文廷)

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA303/2024

The court exercised its discretion to terminate the appeal because the appellant died, there was no one to continue the appeal or act for him, the sentence and compensation order were not excessive or contrary to law (the compensation was reasonable given the phone was unusable and installment arrangements were agreed), and termination would not prejudice public interest or other persons.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Public fighting
• Compensation order
• Effect of appellant's death on appeal
• Termination of proceedings

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香港特別行政區 訴 阮成明

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA272/2024

The trial judge correctly applied the two-stage special/general issues procedure, properly excluded the on-scene oral statement but found the P6 meeting record voluntary after considering the appellant's demeanour, lack of medical/expert proof of incapacity, and corroborating CCTV; the duress defence was rejected as inherently implausible on the evidence; therefore the prosecution proved the offence of criminal damage beyond reasonable doubt and the sentence of 9 months (with HKD 500 compensation) was within the appropriate range and not manifestly excessive.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Duress (common law)
• Admissibility of confessions/meeting records
• Credibility assessment
• Exercise of discretion to exclude evidence
• Youth and mental disability considerations

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香港特別行政區 訴 陳興濤

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA434/2023

The application is refused because the appellant only reiterated factual and evidential complaints already rejected at trial and on appeal and did not raise any point of law of great and general importance under s32(2) Cap 484.

Source excerpt

• Self-defence
• Sufficiency of evidence
• Criminal damage
• Application for certificate under s32

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香港特別行政區 訴 陳興濤

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA434/2023

On re‑trial standard review the High Court found the combined evidence — PW1's credible testimony, the P3 video and screenshots, photos of the damaged phone and the appellant's cautioned statement P5 — proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant caused the phone to fall and damaged it and that he acted either with intent to disable the phone or recklessly as to whether it would be damaged; no lawful excuse (self‑defence) was established, so the conviction and sentence were affirmed.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Intent vs recklessness
• Self-defence
• Admissibility of cautioned statements
• Retrial standard on appeal

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HKSAR v. HUI CHI MING

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC132/2022

The Court of Appeal declined to certify a question to the Court of Final Appeal, holding the case turned on settled principles about selective waiver of silence and credibility.

• Self-defence
• Right to silence
• Waiver of caution
• Adverse inferences from silence
• Credibility assessment
• Common assault

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香港特別行政區 訴 胡兆偉

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA207/2024

Trial evidence including CCTV and admissions established beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant removed the speed hump and cut the ropes; those items belonged to the estate/management or were under their control; removal deprived the speed hump and ropes of their function and therefore constituted criminal damage; the appellant did not have a lawful excuse under s64 because there was no immediate necessity and reasonable alternatives or civil remedies existed; fresh evidence was not admitted and credibility findings were properly open to the trial judge, therefore convictions are upheld.

Source excerpt

• Criminal damage
• Lawful excuse defence (s64)
• Ownership and control of property
• Admission of cautioned statements
• Admission of fresh evidence on appeal
• Standard of appellate review (retrial)

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