H.K
ary
Weekly Press
农
THE HONG KONG WEEKLY PRESS &
October 18, 1934
NULLAH TRIAL APPEAL
Crown Counsel's Submission
The hearing of the appeal against the sentence of death passed on Ng Loi Yuen, who was convicted of the murder of Michael Pine was continued before the Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday.
Mr. Justice Jacks and Mr. Justice J. J. Hayden comprised the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Mr. J. A. Fraser, Assistant Attorney General assisted by Mr. W. J. Lockhart Smith, appeared for the Crown, and Mr. T. P. K. Kemble, of Messrs. Wilkinson & Grist, instructed Mr. R. C. H. Lim, Counsel for the accused.
Dealing with the point raised by appellant that in the absence of Mary Pine, the main witness for the Crown, the evidence of Mrs. Fairburn should not have been put to the jury, Mr. Fraser said the point was not raised, as it should have been, at the trial, and it was not competent now for the Court of Criminal Appeal to deal with it.
Where Is The Line? "She said she saw him throw two children into the nullah and jump in himself. Where are we going to stop if we are going to exclude such evidence?" asked the Assistant Attorney General.
on which decision.
they could base
their
A conviction could not be quashed on this ground if the jury were warned against being pre- judiced by the accidental mention of certain facts, and in this case he himself and Mr. Lim and the trial Judge had warned the jury.
In the afternoon dealing with the question of bruises mentioned by Mr. Lim, Mr. Fraser submitted that a person who was going to murder a child was likely to grasp her anywhere, fiercely and forcibly. Although there was nothing in the evidence to connect the appellant with the marks, there was strong circumstantial evidence that he was responsible. Mr. Fraser sub- mitted that from the directions given to the Jury by the trial judge, there could have been no misunderstanding that there was no direct evidence to connect the appellant with the bruises. How then could the jury have come to
a wrong conclusion?
Mr. Fraser concluded his address in the afternoon and the case will be resumed this afternoon when Mr. Lim will reply.
Judgment Reserved
After a hearing lasting over four days, the Criminal Court of Ap- peal reserved judgment in the case in which Ng Loi Yuen is appealing In reply to a question from Mr. against the sentence of death pass- Justice Hayden Mr. Fraser saided upon him for the murder of there was sufficient
evidence in Michael Pine. the case apart from Mrs. Fair- burn's testimony, and it could not matter in what order the witnesses were placed.
"If you exclude the evidence of these two children being thrown in, the Crown case is still the same because you cannot exclude her evidence that she saw accused on the bridge," he added.
On the point of mentioning Mary Pine's evidence in his open- ing, Mr. Fraser said that some of what he had mentioned had been
later contradicted by Crown wit- nesses, and as to the remainder, the Court must consider whether the minds of the jury must have been influenced by it, or whether there were sufficient other grounds
The Court consisted of Mr. Justice P. Jacks and Mr. Justice J. J. Hayden. Mr. R. C. H. Lim i instructed by Mr. T. P. K. Kemble. appeared for the appelant, and Mr. J. A. Fraser, instructed by Mr. W J. Lockhart Smith was for the Crown.
Yesterday's proceedings were confined to the reply by Mr. Lim to the points raised by Mr. Fraser. In the course of his speech he said that regarding the admis sibility of Mrs. Fairburn's evidence the Crown had raised the point as to why the defence had not raised any objection at the time of the trial. Mr. Lim said that the fact that Mary Pine was not going to give evidence took the Court, Counsel and the Jury by surprise. He was not prepared for such news and under that circumstance he submitted that although objection was not taken at the close of the Crown case that the objection should be allowed before the Court of Appeal.
Mr. Lim went over at great length the law points quoted by Counsel for the Crown. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Justice Jacks announced that the Court would make its decision known next week.
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