Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Hostile witness procedure

Legal area

Court

9 Dec 1982

LAI CHI-PING v. THE QUEEN

Citation

LAI CHI-PING v. THE QUEEN
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC920/1982

The convictions were unsafe because the trial judge permitted the prosecution to lead its own witnesses through prior statements without applying the proper hostile witness procedures or limiting the weight of those answers, and the court could not be satisfied the judge was not influenced by that evidence despite the appellant's admissions; appeal allowed and convictions quashed.
14 Oct 1980

CHAN CHUN MING v. THE QUEEN

Citation

CHAN CHUN MING v. THE QUEEN
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC452/1980

The appeal succeeds because the magistrate erred in failing to re‑ventilate the issue of voluntariness after the appellant gave evidence denying the confession; in light of Watson a court must retain jurisdiction to reconsider admissibility when new relevant evidence arises, and that failure required allowing the appeal though, on the facts and in the special circumstances, no retrial will be ordered.