Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Directions on lies

Legal area

Court

7 Apr 2011

HKSAR v. PUNSALANG ELMER UMALI

Citation

HKSAR v. PUNSALANG ELMER UMALI
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC116/2010

The Court of Appeal found the summing-up was unbalanced and amounted in substance to a prosecutorial speech, the judge's intervention prompting prosecution and his expressed personal disbelief on key defence points made the trial unfair; there were also defects in directions on the right to silence and on lies; accordingly the conviction was quashed and a retrial ordered.
13 May 2005

HKSAR v. KAM SUSANTO

Citation

HKSAR v. KAM SUSANTO
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC542/2003

The jury were properly and fairly directed on inferences, lies and the legal ingredients of bookmaking; the prosecution produced sufficient evidence (betting records, expert analysis, telephone records and extensive bank transactions linking the applicant to an overseas bookmaker) from which the jury could properly infer the applicant was operating as a bookmaker and that the funds were proceeds of indictable conduct; the convictions and sentence were therefore safe and the application for leave dismissed.
23 Jun 1998

HKSAR v. LY HOA

Citation

HKSAR v. LY HOA
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC665/1997

The Court held the convictions were safe because the trial judge properly assessed identification evidence as credible, found the applicant and his witness lied thereby eliminating the alibi, and her interventions in questioning witnesses were clarificatory and did not render the trial unfair; therefore the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
1 May 1996

R. v. Lee Chun Kong

Citation

R. v. Lee Chun Kong
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC568/1994

Oral testimony describing the applicant's admission was admissible despite the trial judge ruling the written post‑recorded statement involuntary; the judge's directions on lies were not a material misdirection because the alleged lies were about central, material issues of knowledge of the drugs and therefore the conviction was safe and the application for leave was dismissed.
17 Nov 1990

THE QUEEN v. TAM CHUNG SHING AND OTHERS

Citation

THE QUEEN v. TAM CHUNG SHING AND OTHERS
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC405/1988

The appeals were allowed and convictions quashed because, on the totality of errors and circumstances, the convictions were unsafe: the trial judge's directions inadequately limited the jury's use of D3's out-of-court statement, his directions on lies were ambiguous and potentially misleading, and the admission of very similar previous convictions (which were subsequently quashed) was unduly prejudicial and rendered the trial unfair; a Kevin Brown direction was unnecessary in this case given that dishonesty was the essential element and the jury could consider cumulative circumstantial eviden…

Hong Kong Case Law

HKSAR v. PUNSALANG ELMER UMALI

HKSAR v. KAM SUSANTO

HKSAR v. LY HOA

R. v. Lee Chun Kong

THE QUEEN v. TAM CHUNG SHING AND OTHERS