Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Surreptitious recording

  • 23 Dec 2010

    SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. NG WAI BING AND OTHERS

    Citation
    SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. NG WAI BING AND OTHERS
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMP840/2010

    Covert recording of witness consultations within the environs of a courtroom and withholding that material until the close of the prosecution constituted contempt because it created a real risk of undermining the administration of justice and had an immediate adverse effect on ongoing proceedings; imprisonment is the appropriate penalty, but suspension of the sentences was justified on the facts; indemnity costs are appropriate against the contemnors, and no order as to costs is made for the third respondent.

  • 21 Oct 2010

    SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. NG WAI BING AND OTHERS

    Citation
    SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. NG WAI BING AND OTHERS
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMP840/2010

    The court found beyond reasonable doubt that 1st and 2nd respondents knowingly placed and maintained covert recording devices in a witness waiting room over an extended period and continued recording after obtaining corroborative material, conduct which was inherently likely to and did interfere with the administration of justice and public confidence; the 3rd respondent, who only facilitated transcription and lacked initial knowledge of the recordings' provenance and whose failings did not amount to active interference, was not guilty of criminal contempt.