Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Hostile witnesses

Legal area

Court

16 Dec 1997

HKSAR v. HO WING LEUNG and Others

Citation

HKSAR v. HO WING LEUNG and Others
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC645/1996

The convictions were upheld because the trial judge properly admitted and carefully weighed the defendants' cautioned statements as declarations against interest, permissibly limited reliance on hostile victim testimony to a broad account, reasonably inferred that D2's warning phone call assisted an ongoing continuing false imprisonment (s.90 read with s.89 CPO), and the sentences, including D5's, were not manifestly excessive.
2 Apr 1997

R. v. QUAN COONG KHENG

Citation

R. v. QUAN COONG KHENG
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA1041/1996

The conviction was quashed because the prosecution presented only suspicion and evidence from hostile witnesses who did not incriminate the appellant; there were no admissions and no proof beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant knew the immigrants were illegal or that he aided and abetted them.
3 Feb 1995

R. v. WAN FEI

Citation

R. v. WAN FEI
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC215/1994

Because the trial judge relied on equivocal and hostile witness evidence and that erroneous assessment could have affected his evaluation of the confession statements, the conviction could not be regarded as safe or satisfactory and could not be saved by the proviso; therefore the appeal must be allowed, the conviction quashed and the sentence set aside.
8 Jan 1987

THE QUEEN v. NGUYEN VAN LOC AND ANOTHER

Citation

THE QUEEN v. NGUYEN VAN LOC AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC160/1986

The convictions were quashed because the trial judge's procedural errors and misdirections (including premature written questions to the jury and failure to warn about the evidential status of prior and cautioned statements), together with the manifest unreliability and contradictions in key witness evidence, made the convictions unsafe.
6 Jan 1987

THE QUEEN v. WAI HIN KEUNG

Citation

THE QUEEN v. WAI HIN KEUNG
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC133/1986

Leave to appeal was refused. Although the judge's conduct in detaining and handling the two young witnesses and his poor record-keeping were criticised and found to exceed his statutory authority, those actions did not demonstrate the loss of impartiality required to set aside convictions; the judge had properly warned himself about dangers of uncorroborated evidence and the statutory presumption under s.28 of the Societies Ordinance lawfully supported conviction for membership based on possession of writings.

Hong Kong Case Law

HKSAR v. HO WING LEUNG and Others

R. v. QUAN COONG KHENG

R. v. WAN FEI

THE QUEEN v. NGUYEN VAN LOC AND ANOTHER

THE QUEEN v. WAI HIN KEUNG