THE QUEEN v. CHOW HON KIT AND OTHERS

IN TAE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 67 OF 1990

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BETWEEN

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JUDGMENT

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1. The appellants were convicted after pleas of guilty for a charge of unlawful assembly. They applied for leave to appeal out of time against conviction which I granted. I have had an opportunity to read the papers and I agree with the Crown's concession that on the brief facts that were presented to the Magistrate, he should not have accepted the pleas of guilty. The Magistrate in his Statement of Findings very fairly concedes this. An essential elementof the charge is that the conduct of the appellants was intended or likely to cause any person reasonably to fear that they will commit a breach of the peace or will by such conduct provoke other persons to commit a breach of the peace. The agreed facts lacked this ingredient. Accordingly the appeals are allowed and the conviction are quashed.