Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Voluntariness and confession law
  • 3 May 1991

    THE QUEEN v. VU DUC HOA

    Citation
    THE QUEEN v. VU DUC HOA
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMA1599/1990

    Where interviews extend over many hours into the early morning and evidence indicates risk of sapping the accused's will, the appellate court will require the trial magistrate to be seen to consider the residual discretion to exclude statements on grounds of unfairness; applying this, convictions founded primarily on late‑night confessions obtained under such circumstances may be unsafe and should be quashed, while other convictions supported by independent evidence may stand.

    • Admissibility of cautioned statements
    • Voluntariness and confession law
    • Oppression and unfairness
    • Residual discretion to exclude evidence
    • Right to silence
    • Interpreter reliability