HKSAR v. NGO WAI

HCMA 142/2002

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 142 OF 2002

(ON APPEAL FROM TMCC NO. 2762 of 2001)

____________

____________

_______________

J U D G M E N T

_______________

1. On 21 January of this year the appellant was convicted after trial of an offence of wounding contrary to Section 19 of the Offences Against the Person Ordinance Cap 212. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. He appeals against both his conviction and his sentence.

2. What the appellant said to me during the course of hearing this appeal was simply that he did not commit the offence; that the Magistrate was wrong to convict him of it, and that those witnesses (including the 'victim') who gave evidence against him had told lies.

3. In his careful 'statement of findings' and 'reasons for sentence' the Magistrate said that he believed the prosecution witnesses and that he did not believe the appellant's account of matters. He went to some lengths to explain why.

4. The Magistrate saw and heard the witnesses and formed a view which he, as the finder of facts, was perfectly entitled to form. His sentence, again which he explains in some detail, cannot be faulted. That sentence was neither excessive (given the nature of the wounds inflicted upon the 'victim' by the appellant with a chopper) nor wrong in principle.

5. For these reasons this appeal against conviction and sentence is dismissed.