23 Dec 2013
HKSAR v. LAM KING YIN
- Citation
- HKSAR v. LAM KING YIN
- Court
- Court of Appeal
- Case number
- CACC246/2013
The trial judge misdirected the jury by describing the section 47 presumption as requiring the accused to satisfy the jury on the balance of probabilities that he did not know the nature of the contents, thereby converting an evidential onus into a persuasive onus; that misdirection was material to the defence and rendered the conviction unsafe, so the conviction is quashed and, having weighed factors including independent judicial error, seriousness of the offence and cogency of the evidence, a retrial was ordered to be listed within three months.