26 Jul 1994
The conviction was unsafe because the magistrate failed to address the essential element that the appellant must have knowingly misled the interviewing officer; that failure was a fatal procedural error requiring the conviction to be set aside and the matter remitted for the magistrate to determine that issue.
31 Oct 1986
The magistrate erred in concluding there was no case to answer because the presumption in section 47(3) applies where the circumstances support an inference of possession and thus knowledge; evidence of paraphernalia, prepared opium, and admissions justified drawing the inference; accordingly the answers to the magistrate's questions are NO and the matter is remitted to the magistrate to continue the hearing.
27 Jul 1983
Because the magistrate failed to obtain the mandatory Section 54A report before sentencing, the 9 month sentence was set aside and the case was remitted to the magistrate under Magistrates Ordinance s119(1)(d) to deal with sentence de novo after obtaining the required report; the High Court will not obtain the report itself.
22 Oct 1976
The magistrate erred by accepting an equivocal guilty plea and imposing disqualification without allowing the appellant to produce evidence of third party insurance; an expired licence alone does not prove absence of insurance. Leave to appeal out of time is granted, the appeal is allowed, conviction set aside for trial after permitting reversal of plea, and the fine is to be remitted if paid.
4 Dec 1968
Because the charge was ambiguous and failed to give the necessary particulars, the appellant was not properly informed and his guilty plea could not stand; admissions in the brief facts did not cure the defective particulars, so the proper remedy was to set aside the conviction and sentence and remit the case with amended particulars to the magistrate.