Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Expert evidence on mental capacity

Legal area

Court

23 Apr 2025

香港特別行政區訴陳嘉賢

Citation

[2025] HKCFI 1614
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA63/2024

On rehearing the High Court concluded that, taking the appellant's personal circumstances (being a victim of romance scams, borderline/low average intelligence, strong desire for relationship and conduct of handing over card and PIN) and the short duration/amount and pattern of withdrawals into account, a reasonable person in the appellant's position would not necessarily have had grounds to believe the deposited funds were proceeds of crime; the evidence did not establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, therefore conviction unsafe and overturned.
15 Jun 2018

香港特別行政區訴 CHAN YIN SHING

Citation

[2018] HKCA 355
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC87/2017

The trial judge committed reviewable error by improperly rejecting and inadequately testing the defence expert's evidence of mild intellectual disability and adaptive impairment, and by preventing full exploration of the reliability of the tests; that error undermined the safety of the conviction because the appellant's mental condition bore directly on the voluntariness and reliability of his admissions and the weight to be given to the identification evidence, therefore the conviction was quashed.