2.0 befor
The third point which the Crown have to prov
on this indictment is that the two men who committed
the murder were procured by Lau Shui Kei as agent for
somebody else. There may be some question on that
point: I shall deal with it later.
The fourth point which the Crown have to prove
is that the accused was the man who employed Lau to
That, of course, is the kernel
organise this murder.
of the whole trial.
Now there is one thing which has to be said
in every Criminal case. You have heard it from Mr.
Potter, and you have heard it also from the Counsel
who opened for the Crown, and that is that suspicion,
even grave suspicion, is not enough. Before you can
find a verdict of "guilty" you must be satisfied that
the guilt is brought home to the accused, beyond all
reasonable doubt. That, of course, does not mean
fantastic, fanciful doubt, but such doubt as would make
you pause in some serious affair of your own life in
which you were not prepared to take a chance.
cannot, of course, take a chance against the prisoner;
you must be certain.
You
Now, I think I ought to say, before coming to
the case itself, - I feel it my duty to say something
on the question of the conditional parfon, a procedure
provided by the law and one which is therefore open to
the Attorney General to invoke.
The scheme of the
conditional pardon, the procedure, is as follows:-
"A" is arrested on suspicion of, let us say, robbery; he makes a statement implacating himself and
"B".
The Crown feeling they have not sufficient
material for the conviction of "A" and "B", and not
sufficient material for the conviction of "B" without
the assistance of "A", say to "A", "we will obtain for