Hong Kong Case Law

香港特別行政區 訴 鍾錦聰及另二人

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA479/2023

The court, conducting a rehearing, accepted the restaurant manager’s and police evidence that the first and second appellants worked in the kitchen for sustained periods with corroborating work‑card and payment evidence, and that the third appellant arranged and engaged them; inconsistencies and omissions were not sufficient to create reasonable doubt; therefore convictions were safe and appeals dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Breach of conditions of stay
• Employing illegal workers
• Appellate re‑hearing standard
• Witness credibility
• Adverse inference from silence

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香港特別行政區 訴 馮健如

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC269/2024

Bail was refused because the appeal did not have a realistic prospect of success given the cogent evidence (CCTV footage, D1's confession and the applicant's recorded admissions) and because the trial judge's adverse inference from the applicant's silence was reasonable and unassailable on the material before the court.

Source excerpt

• Handling stolen goods
• Conspiracy to burgle
• Bail pending appeal
• Adverse inference from silence

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香港特別行政區 訴 蔡裕文

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA601/2021

The court held that the presence of the appellant's two fingerprints on the letter inside a sealed, addressed envelope that contained drugs, together with the letter's wording and absence of other fingerprints or explanation, permitted the irresistible inference that the appellant wrote, packaged and sent the envelope; therefore the conviction was safe.

Source excerpt

• Fingerprint evidence
• Circumstantial evidence
• Drug trafficking
• Adverse inference from silence
• Identification

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香港特別行政區 訴 官心陽

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC349/2019

The appellate court held the trial judge’s factual findings were supported by the evidence and that the only reasonable and irresistible inference was that the applicant jointly possessed the drugs in the hotel room for trafficking; there was no misdirection on joint possession and the renewed application for leave to appeal was refused, upholding the conviction.

Source excerpt

• Joint possession
• Trafficking
• Circumstantial evidence
• Adverse inference from silence
• Leave to appeal

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YAU LAI WAH v. WONG KAN YU

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACV133/2020

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal over a disputed HK$3 million payment, holding the plaintiff had not proved it was a loan and no adverse inference was required.

• Loan agreement
• Burden of proof
• Confession and avoidance
• Adverse inference from silence
• Assessment of inherent probabilities
• Set-off

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CHAN SZE WING v. CONGRUENCE CHINESE MEDICINE & JING LUO HEALTH LTD AND ANOTHER

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCA866/2012

The Court of First Instance set aside a property assignment as a voidable disposition made to defraud a judgment creditor, and awarded costs against the company and transferee.

• Section 60 conveyancing and property ordinance
• Voidable dispositions
• Fraudulent conveyance
• Conspiracy to injure
• Adverse inference from silence
• Restoration of company to register

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香港特別行政區 訴 朱凱欣及另一人

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC171/2018

Leave refused because the trial judge's factual findings on credibility, supported by documentary and banking evidence and by D3's independent testimony, were not perverse; inferences drawn against A1 and A2 about control of accounts and reasonable grounds to believe funds were proceeds were properly open to the judge, and the sentencing approach was not plainly wrong.

Source excerpt

• Fraud by misrepresentation
• Handling proceeds of indictable offences (money laundering)
• Credibility assessment and appellate deference
• Adverse inference from silence
• Sentencing principles and concurrent/partial concurrency

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HKSAR v. CHAN ERNEST

Court

Court of Appeal

Case number

CACC191/2018

Leave to appeal against a drug-trafficking conviction was refused. The judge held there was no arguable basis for the Mushtaq, silence, or s 65B complaints.

• Confession and voluntariness
• Mushtaq direction
• Record of interview
• Adverse inference from silence
• Section 65b criminal procedure ordinance
• Expert evidence

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HKSAR v. DAVINDER SINGH

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA167/2018

Appeal against conviction for taking employment while subject to a removal order was dismissed. The court upheld the Magistrate’s circumstantial reasoning.

• Taking employment while removal order in force
• Appeal against conviction
• Adverse inference from silence
• Circumstantial evidence
• Immigration-law
• Criminal-appeal

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香港特別行政區 訴 田方裕

Court

Court of First Instance

Case number

HCMA524/2016

The magistrate's credibility and factual findings were rational and supported by the evidence; she did not base conviction on a 'not proven' principle but on the sole reasonable inference available from the uncontradicted evidence that the appellant's driving fell below the standard of a careful driver; the appellant's decision not to give evidence or call witnesses justified drawing an adverse inference; conviction was therefore safe and is affirmed.

Source excerpt

• Careless driving
• Appeal against conviction
• Witness credibility
• Adverse inference from silence
• Res ipsa loquitur / “not proven” principle
• Standards of appellate review

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