16 Apr 2025
Leave to appeal refused because the proposed grounds were factual re-statements that did not identify palpable errors or a reasonable prospect of success; stay refused because no arguable appeal was shown and no evidence that the appeal would be rendered nugatory without a stay.
20 Apr 2021
The Court held that the judge's interventions were lawful case management and did not amount to bias or denial of a fair trial; disputed witness remarks were personality descriptions not propensity evidence and were not prejudicial; cross-examination of the pathologist was properly and fairly conducted and the expert's totality-based opinion was for the jury to weigh; references to lack of puttage and to inconsistencies were neutral and did not invite an adverse inference of guilt; the judge gave adequate directions about lies and credibility; taken as a whole the summing-up was fair and the…
19 Dec 2019
The trial judge accepted the police witnesses as credible and found the written interview record voluntary; the absence of forensic evidence or video recording did not render the conviction unsafe; there was no basis for appellate interference with the credibility findings, so the appeal is dismissed.
3 Oct 2019
The conviction was quashed because the failure of the defence (and compounding failures by the prosecution) to place a Customs forensic report and recovered deleted messages before the jury — messages which tended to show the appellant believed she was carrying ivory powder — amounted to flagrant incompetence and deprived the appellant of a fair trial, rendering the conviction unsafe and not curable by the proviso.
25 Feb 2019
Leave to appeal refused because the judge gave correct and balanced directions, the disputed evidential gaps did not render the trial unfair, the issues were factual for the jury whose verdict was not impeached, and no bias or procedural unfairness was demonstrated.
29 Nov 2017
Prosecution closing invited the jury to equate the scale and ferocity of the retaliation with the absence of provocation (an impermissible line of reasoning under Liang Yaoqiang); the trial judge failed to give the necessary warning/direction to the jury against that reasoning; that omission was a material misdirection which made the conviction unsafe, therefore the appeal is allowed, conviction quashed and retrial ordered.
18 Aug 2017
The application for bail pending appeal was refused because none of the grounds advanced by the applicant established a good prospect of success on an application for leave to appeal; the trial judge's directions were proper and the absence of forensic evidence did not produce a reasonable prospect of overturning conviction.
24 May 2016
Leave to appeal against sentence out of time was refused because the applicant provided no reasonable explanation for the 14-month delay and because the court had no power to substitute a determinate sentence for the mandatory life sentence imposed under s.2 of the Offences Against the Person Ordinance; substitution is a matter for the Chief Executive on recommendation under Cap.524.
19 May 2016
The judge reasonably drew the only permissible inference that the applicant knew of and was in possession of the child pornography because the files were in his Foxy download folder, were readily accessible and had been accessed repeatedly between 2008 and 2013, the computer was found in his bedroom, and alternative explanations (virus, third-party access, malfunction) were rejected on the evidence; accordingly there are no reasonably arguable grounds of appeal and leave is refused.
16 Apr 2015
The evidence taken as a whole permitted only the reasonable and irresistible inference that the applicant knowingly possessed the dangerous drug; the Court of Appeal will not overturn the trial judge's credibility findings or factual conclusion absent perversity or a demonstrable miscarriage of justice, and no such defect was shown; therefore leave to appeal was refused.