THE QUEEN v. WONG LUI SHU

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

1986, No. 515
(Criminal)

BEWEEN

THE QUEEN

and

WONG LUI-SHU

______________

______________

JUDGMENT

______________

Sir Alan Huggins, V.-P.:

1. This is an application for leave to appeal against convictions on charges of blackmail and theft. The Applicant was charged before His Honour Deputy Judge Fung in the Kowloon District Court and was convicted after a trial.

2. A number of grounds of appeal has been advanced but only two of them have been pursued and they are to be considered together: the first is that the judge erred in believing the evidence of the first prosecution witness, the victim of the 1st charge, and the other is the fourth ground of appeal - that the convictions were unsafe and unsatisfactory. It is not suggested that the first ground is enough by itself.

3. Mr. Sedgwick has gone through t he evidence and has advanced a number of points in which he said the witness was shown to be unsatisfactory in particular having regard to alleged discrepancies between his evidence at the trial and a statement which he had made to the police during the investigation. We think that there is really only one of the alleged discrepancies which is of any substance, namely that as to the reason given for the demand of $5,400. There is clearly a discrepancy, but giving all the matters careful consideration, we do not think that there is enough for us to say that the judge was not entitled to bring in the verdict that he did or that the-verdict is unsafe and unsatisfactory having regard to the totality of the evidence, and bearing in mind the fact that the victim was corroborated substantially by his wife's evidence and the fact that his evidence was not contradicted by the Applicant himself. There is no need to go into details, but we are not persuaded that the verdict was unsafe or unsatisfactory and the application must be dismissed.