R. v. WONG KWOK WA

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

1996 No. 73
(Criminal)

____________

____________

_______________

J U D G M E N T

_______________

Seagroatt, J. (giving the judgment of the Court):

1. This is an application for leave to appeal against convictions in the District Court by his Hon. Judge Kilgour for offences of controlling a person for the purpose of prostitution and unlawfully imprisoning the same person. The Applicant was sentenced to concurrent terms of 2½years imprisonment.

2. The grounds of his appeal are set out in a document signed by him and dated December of last year. In short, they are that the learned judge did not understand or take into account the witnesses' evidence: that he was prejudiced in favour of prosecution witnesses and neglected contradictions in their evidence, that he drew unreasonable inferences which had no basis and that the verdicts were unsafe and unjust. Today the Applicant has essentially repeated those grounds and the new grounds which he has mentioned are in effect details of his principal grounds.

3. The victim, a public relations girl, apparently owed her employers $5,000 being money borrowed from them. Whether this was a genuine debt or some contrivance to keep the girl working for the company is not entirely clear. She also apparently promised to "guarantee" repayment of a much larger debt in the sum of $30,000 by another person. The club that employed her, Ocean Palace, ceased business at the beginning of 1995 and the staff, including the victim, was transferred to Shanghai Night Club in Yaumatei.

4. At some stage, the Defendant, perhaps at the request of the man whose loan the victim had apparently promised to "guarantee", took her to the Shanghai Club to talk over the matter of repayment of her own debt, which she was told had increased from $5,000 to $30,000, and the "guaranteed" loan which had risen to $40,000. It is not difficult to see the background of potential enforcement in these matters. She was encouraged to become a prostitute to repay the money but declined at first, but remained at those premises for 2 days under the supervision of initially the Defendant and then another man.

5. The learned judge dealt with the evidence in relation to this alleged false imprisonment at pages 20-21 and 23-24 of his reasons for the verdicts. It is clear that he found the victim's evidence credible and there was evidence also in the form of a statement after caution by the Defendant followed by some answers to some questions put to him which supported her evidence. He also gave evidence in the trial and was cross-examined. There was one particularly telling answer given by him, referred to by the judge in his findings, which weighed heavily with him. The Applicant was asked: "She is free to go?" and he said: "no", because he had to show his company that the girl really had not repaid the money. There was adequate evidence from which the learned judge was entitled to find the offence of false imprisonment proved. Indeed the attendant circumstance, the victim's evidence, the applicant's statement and his own evidence fully justified that finding.

6. Shortly after the period of detention in the Shanghai Club, she was persuaded to work as a prostitute as the Defendant had tried to persuade her earlier in order to reduce that debt. She did provide sexual services for payment for some customers. The learned judge on the evidence before him found the charge of controlling her for the proposes of prostitution proved. He took into account all the arguments, the Applicant being represented by counsel at that trial, and there was ample evidence to support his finding.

7. There is no merit in any of the grounds of the appeal and this application is accordingly dismissed.