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shows that it had in fact been stated by YEUNG Shing that he had been beaten with fists and feet by a number of persons including the 4th appellant but when he was asked precisely how she had assaulted him, he modified his evidence to say that she had used her elbow to thrust against him. The learned commissioner does appear, in his remarks to the jury, to have overlooked this modification of the original evidence but, in the light of the evidence from YEUNG Shing that it was the 4th appellant who ordered his beating up and who, after he had been given water, ordered the resumption of the attack upon him, the slip cannot have had any effect upon the minds of the jurors.
in
Counsel next criticizes the commissioner's assertion that the girl Pik Kwan confirmed that the 4th appellant took an active part in the attack on YEUNG Shing at Po Ming Mansions. This evidence, he points out, was considerably diluted, if not contradicted, cross-examination when the girl agreed with Mr. Goodbody that she only heard the sound of YEUNG Shing being beaten in a cubicle the door to which was open and into which she saw the 4th appellant go whilst the beating was going on. It is true that that contradiction
in Pik Kwan's evidence existed, but equally true that, in re- examination, she was asked "Did you see YEUNG Shing being beaten at all?"' and replied "I saw it when I cast a glance". These contradictions appear to have been overlooked by the learned commissioner who was faced with the task of recalling detail given by various witnesses
in very lengthy evidence regarding a series of beatings. In the light of the evidence of YEUNG Shing himself however, we cannot consider that any prejudice to the 4th appellant ensued.
It was further alleged that the learned commissioner had
gone too far in describing the evidence given by the 5th appellant
about the activities of the 4th, as "pretty damning". The passage
complained of was as follows:-
You
"Then it was suggested to you that you should put out of your mind everything that the 5th accused had said relating to the 4th accused and he had said a good deal and it was pretty damning, I think you will agree will not put the 5th accused's evidence out of your mind, mombers of the jury, at all. It is part of the case here, part of the general evidence in this case and you will consider it for what you think it is worth".