HKSAR v. MILNE John

[2022] HKCFA 10

Court of Final Appeal31 May 2022

FAMC7/2022 HKSAR v. MILNE John

FAMC No. 7 of 2022

[2022] HKCFA 10

IN THE COURT OF FINAL APPEAL OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO. 7 OF 2022 (CRIMINAL)

(ON APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL

FROM HCCC NO. 240 OF 2020)

___________________________

BETWEEN
	HKSAR	Applicant
	and
	MILNE JOHN	Respondent

___________________________

Appeal Committee: Chief Justice Cheung, Mr Justice Fok PJ and Mr Justice Lam PJ

Date of Hearing and Determination: 31 May 2022

____________________

DETERMINATION

____________________

The Appeal Committee:

1. We grant the applicant leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal against the Decision of the judge below granting a permanent stay of the proceedings against the respondent, on the basis that it is reasonably arguable that, in doing so, the learned judge misapplied the established principles for determining a stay application thereby giving rise to substantial and grave injustice.

2. Further, we grant leave to appeal on the following question of law of great and general importance that is involved in the appeal, namely:

“When a judge of the Court of First Instance grants a final stay of criminal proceedings against a foreign defendant with little connection to Hong Kong but the prosecution wishes to appeal against that stay to the Court of Final Appeal, when considering the question of bail terms, should the judge ever impose or vary bail conditions in such a way that might render the intended appeal nugatory, in the sense that, if the stay were set aside, the prosecution could not proceed due to the absence of the defendant from the jurisdiction?”

3. The appeal will be fixed to be heard on 26 October 2022.

(Andrew Cheung)	(Joseph Fok)	(M H Lam)
Chief Justice	Permanent Judge	Permanent Judge

Mr Derek Lau SADPP (Ag) and Mr Gary Leung SPP, of the Department of Justice, for the Applicant

Mr Richard Donald, instructed by Morley Chow Seto, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, and Ms Nisha Mohamed, instructed by Morley Chow Seto, on a pro bono basis, for the Respondent

Citation

Court

Procedural posture

Issues

Holdings

Legal principles

Disposition

Appeal history

HKSAR v. WONG CHO SHING AND OTHERS
DC · 14 Feb 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. LAU CHEUK NGAI AND OTHERS
CA · 28 Jun 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. LAU CHEUK NGAI AND OTHERS
CA · 28 Jun 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. LAU CHEUK NGAI AND OTHERS
CA · 28 Jun 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. WONG CHO SHING
CA · 6 Jul 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. PAK WING BUN AND ANOTHER
CA · 14 Jul 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. KWAN KA HO
CA · 9 Aug 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. WONG CHO SHING
CA · 15 Dec 2017
On appeal from
HKSAR v. LAU CHEUK NGAI
CA · 1 Feb 2018 · [2018] HKCA 59
On appeal from
HKSAR v. WONG WAI HO
CA · 15 Feb 2018 · [2018] HKCA 101
On appeal from
HKSAR v. LAU HING PUI
CA · 15 Feb 2018 · [2018] HKCA 99
On appeal from
HKSAR v. PAK WING BUN
CA · 23 Mar 2018 · [2018] HKCA 150
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHAN SIU TAN AND ANOTHER
CA · 23 Mar 2018 · [2018] HKCA 151
On appeal from
HKSAR v. FUNG HOI YEUNG
CFI · 13 Feb 2019 · [2019] HKCFI 598
On appeal from
HKSAR v. WONG CHO SHING AND OTHERS
CA · 26 Jul 2019 · [2019] HKCA 839
On appeal from
HKSAR v. WONG CHO SHING AND OTHERS
CA · 25 Oct 2019 · [2019] HKCA 1204
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHAN SIU TAN (陳少丹)
CFA · 7 Apr 2020 · [2020] HKCFA 14
On appeal from
HKSAR v. FUNG HOI YEUNG
CA · 18 Jun 2020 · [2020] HKCA 512
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CFI · 24 Aug 2020 · [2020] HKCFI 3013
On appeal from
HKSAR v. FUNG HOI YEUNG
CA · 12 Oct 2021 · [2021] HKCA 1589
On appeal from
HKSAR v. MILNE JOHN
CFI · 17 Dec 2021 · [2021] HKCFI 3824
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) (陳克恩)
CFA · 2 Mar 2022 · [2022] HKCFA 6
On appeal from
HKSAR v. FUNG HOI YEUNG
CA · 31 May 2022 · [2022] HKCA 1073
On appeal from
HKSAR v. MILNE John
CFA · 31 May 2022 · [2022] HKCFA 10
This judgment
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CA · 4 Aug 2022 · [2022] HKCA 1059
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CA · 4 Aug 2022 · [2022] HKCA 1517
On appeal from
HKSAR v. MILNE JOHN
CFA · 14 Nov 2022 · [2022] HKCFA 22
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CA · 21 Dec 2022 · [2022] HKCA 1820
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) (陳克恩)
CFA · 18 Jan 2023 · [2023] HKCFA 2
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) (陳克恩)
CFA · 24 May 2023 · [2023] HKCFA 11
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CFI · 5 Dec 2023 · [2024] HKCFI 327
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND ANOTHER
CA · 8 May 2024 · [2024] HKCA 444
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CA · 7 May 2026 · [2026] HKCA 937
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND ANOTHER
CA · 1 Jun 2026 · [2026] HKCA 1061
On appeal from
HKSAR v. CHEN KEEN (alias JACK CHEN) AND OTHERS
CA · 26 Aug 2026 · [2026] HKCA 1519
On appeal from