475
31.
fre ng toa tajad!
I then proceeded to point out to him that the present case was in a sense peculiar; it was not purely a Chinese case as the prisoners had been handed over to the Chinese Authorities by the Government of the Colony of Hongkong. It was of mutual interest to both the Hongkong Government and the Chinese Authorities that piracy should be put down. The Hongkong Government had always been ready to assist the Chinese Authorities in the past and would afford them every facility in the future in order to secure the ends of justice; but torture was contrary to English law and they could not countenance it. The views of the Hongkong Government, in that they were assisting the Chinese Authorities in procuring the suppression of piracy, were entitled to consideration, and a compromise which would satisfy the laws of both countries was from every point of view desirable. I strongly urged him to convict the prisoners on the evidence against them, which he had admitted satisfied him, and forego the obtaining of the prisoners' confession.
Having first asked me whether a sentence of imprisonment for life would satisfy me, and being given an emphatic refusal, it would be improper to place criminals extradited from Hongkong in a more favourable position than those taken in their own country. I consented to request the Viceroy's sanction to execute the accused without having wrung from them a confession of their guilt.
Two of the prisoners were thus disposed of.
The remaining two were Fong Chin Fu and Ko K. PR. Against the latter there was no evidence and he had not been recognised; the case against him was therefore dropped. Fong Chin Fu had also not been identified, but in view of the fact that he had given evidence, which corroborated the evidence, and had been arrested in the company of Chong Ya Yu and Chong Ya Kuen, who had now been found guilty, I requested that he should be brought forward and questioned.
This was done; he repeated his former evidence, protested that he was innocent, and said that his father, the owner of the Tungli fishing boat, could identify him, and that the Yan Tsung fishing firm of Lacao would guarantee him. He also had an aunt in ...
The Magistrate being in favour of an adjournment via this means, case in order to give time to obtain the presence of his father and procure corroborative evidence from Kaono, I consented (though I pointed out that his story tallied exactly with that of the evidence he had asserted he could procure to clear himself, with that of the prisoners now found guilty, which was in itself suggestive of complicity in their crimes). The fact too of him being the son of the owner of the Kuangli fishing boat was not a sufficient guarantee that he never engaged in piracy.
The case of Chai ▲ Chang was then taken. The Magistrate was entirely satisfied with the evidence of the witnesses.
Chu