Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Hostile witness and cross-examination

  • 19 May 1994

    R. v. FUNG KIT

    Citation
    R. v. FUNG KIT
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMA1052/1993

    Although the caution statement contained breaches of the police Rules those breaches did not render it inadmissible in the absence of impropriety and the magistrate was entitled to admit it; however the Crown failed to prove crucial statutory ingredients for the strict liability offences — specifically authorization as agent/manager/factor and existence of contracts of employment — and the magistrate erred in permitting and treating witnesses as hostile without proper basis; on that evidential foundation the convictions were unsafe and must be quashed and the sentences set aside, with no retr…

    • Employing persons not lawfully employable
    • Admissibility of caution statements
    • Police questioning rules
    • Strict liability offences
    • Presumptions of employment
    • Hostile witness and cross-examination

  • 22 Oct 1993

    R. v. CHEN TAI HWA and Another

    Citation
    R. v. CHEN TAI HWA and Another
    Court
    Court of Appeal
    Case number
    CACC321/1992

    The Court held the trial judge did not err in declaring PW27 hostile or in the scope of permissible cross-examination, the charts were properly linked by documentary exhibits found on D2 and Chart 5, the forged receipt books and other documentary evidence were deliberate lies supporting the circumstantial case and did not require a Lucas direction as it would have been otiose, omissions in character directions did not produce a miscarriage of justice in view of overwhelming circumstantial evidence, and therefore the convictions were safe and the appeals were dismissed.

    • Conspiracy to defraud
    • Handling stolen goods
    • Forgery
    • Hostile witness and cross-examination
    • Character evidence and propensity
    • Lies as corroboration (lucas direction)