A
-4-
18
The accused replied "Some days ago we had a game of football and the deceased hit me with the ball. As I was wounded with the ball I asked the deceased to give me money as compensation for the injury and for some treatment. The deceased refused to give me money. I was not strong enough to fight him so I used this knife against him." That, gentlemen, was a very few minutes after the knife had been taken from the accused and there is a lengthy and collected, intelligent statement. I say intelligent, though to you or me the idea of two fellows playing football together and one who gets a blow from the other taking it as anything but an accident is incredible. But there is a full motive given and a perfectly clear motive and the only suggestion that Mr. She on behalf of the accused man made to that witness Tse Tong was that his recollection of the statement was not quite accurate and that the accused had said that he was provoked into a fight by the deceased.
Now I want to stress the fact that these words were spoken within a few minutes of the incident we are investigating, within a few moments of the loss of consciousness, the heat of temper, call it what you like, that the defence have been telling us about. It is a contemporaneous statement and it appears to be a perfectly clear one seeking to justify action taken. But that is not the only one we have because there are two other statements that same day. The wounded man was rushed off to the Kowloon Hospital and as soon as Dr. Gosano saw him it was manifest that he was in a very, very dangerous condition. He was conscious and therefore it was decided to take what is known as a "dying deposition" from him and that was done about 7 o'clock that same morning by Mr. Himsworth, 2nd Magistrate, Kowloon. The accused was there and the wounded man Wong Ka Yan
A
-4-
18
The accused replied "Some days ago we had a game of foot-ball
and the deceased hit me with the ball. As I was wounded with
the ball I asked the deceased to give me money as compensation
for the injury and for some treatment. The deceased refused
to give me money. I was not strong enough to fight him so I
used tkaxknife this means against him." That, gentlemen,
was a very few minutes after the knife had been taken from the
accused and there is a lengthy and collected, intelligent
statement. I say intelligent, though to you or me the idea of
two fellows playing football together and one who gets a blow
from the other taking it as anything but an accident is
incredible. But there is a full motive given and a perfectly
clear motive and the only suggestion that Mr. She on behalf of
the accused man made to that witness Tse Tong was that his
recollection of the statement was not quite accurate and that
the accused had said that he was provoked into a fight by the
deceased.
Now I want to stress the fact that these words were
spoken within a few minutes of the incident we are investigating,
within a few moments of the loss of consciousness, the heat of
temper, call it what you like, that the defence have been
telling us about. It is a contemporaneous statement and it
appears to be a perfectly clear one seeking to justify action
taken. But that is not the only one we have because there are
two other statements that same day. The wounded man was rushed
off to the Kowloon Hospital and as soon as Dr. Gosano saw him
it was manifest that he was in a very very dangerous condition.
He was conscious and therefore it was decided to take what is
known as a "dying deposition" from him and that was done about
7 o'clock that same morning by Mr. Himsworth, 2nd Magistrate,
Kowloon. The accused was there and the wounded man Wong Ka Yan
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.