IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG
(APPELLATE JURISDICTION)
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 337 of 1973
BETWEEN
1
CHAU CHEUK YIN alias CHAU CHAI
2.
LAI FAI alias AH FAI
3.
HO MAN WAI alias AH WAI
4.
5.
WAN MUI MUI alias PAK PING LIU SIM SHUN alias AH SHUN
and
THE QUEEN
"
Coram: Pickering, Trainor and Cons, JJ.
Date: 2nd October 1973.
JUDGMENT
ANNEX® TO XCR(74) 79.
Appellants
Respondent
Pickering, J.:
The prologue to the crimes of which the five appellants were convicted is as sordid as were the crimes themselves and we do not
propose to dwell upon it. Very briefly, in May 1972, a young lady endowed with more courage than sense, entered into an arrangement with two men whereby the two were to introduce her to work in a call-girl establishment operated by the female appellant, that is, the 4th appellant. The arrangement was a spurious one in that the girl had no intention of actually performing the services which would be required of her by the 4th appellant; the intention of the trio
was to obtain an advance payment from the 4th appellant for the
future services of the girl who would thereupon abscond. In fact
an advance of $2,000 was agreed and, after $1,000 of this sum had
been paid over, the girl made good her escape from the 4th appellant's
premises without having entertained any clients of the establishment.
The reaction of the appellants to this deception was one
of violence. Before recounting that aspect, however, it should be
explained that each of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th appellants had some
connection with the premises, Flat K on the 2nd floor of Po Ming
Mansions, Foo Ming Street, Wanchai, from which the 4th appellant's
call-girl ring operated. Thus the 1st appellant's girl friend worked
as a prostitute from those premises; the 2nd appellant rented a cubicle there from the 4th appellant; the 3rd appellant was employed