{"id":1093,"date":"2024-10-14T22:09:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T14:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2024-10-15T22:12:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T14:12:47","slug":"court-found-17-year-old-defendant-not-guilty-of-indecent-assault-and-criminal-damage-and-awarded-costs-to-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/court-found-17-year-old-defendant-not-guilty-of-indecent-assault-and-criminal-damage-and-awarded-costs-to-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Court found 17-year-old defendant not guilty of indecent assault and criminal damage and awarded costs to him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<section class=\"section news-detail-section\" id=\"section_1975306686\">\n\t\t<div class=\"bg section-bg fill bg-fill  bg-loaded\" >\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"section-content relative\">\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div id=\"text-1686558493\" class=\"text breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #627A80;\nfont-family: Merriweather;\nfont-size: 13px;\nfont-style: normal;\nfont-weight: 400;\nline-height: 150%; \/* 19.5px *\/\nletter-spacing: 0.39px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/\">Home<\/a> \/ <a href=\"\/news\/\">News<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<style>\n#section_1975306686 {\n  padding-top: 0px;\n  padding-bottom: 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/section>\n\t\n\t<section class=\"section news-detail-section\" id=\"section_645696523\">\n\t\t<div class=\"bg section-bg fill bg-fill  bg-loaded\" >\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"section-content relative\">\n\t\t\t\n\n<div class=\"row\"  id=\"row-484213185\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-232951652\" class=\"col medium-12 small-12 large-12\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div id=\"text-345144149\" class=\"text h3\">\n\t\t\n\n<p>Court found 17-year-old defendant not guilty of indecent assault and criminal damage and awarded costs to him<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-2951192466\" class=\"text h5\">\n\t\t\n\n<p><strong>HKSAR v Wong ** (\u9ec3**)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-2951192466 {\n  font-size: 1.25rem;\n  text-align: left;\n  color: #003d4c;\n}\n#text-2951192466 > * {\n  color: #003d4c;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-2474377165\" class=\"text txt-bold\">\n\t\t\n\n<p>14 October 2024<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_971541495\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/37.-Wong-Yun-Chak-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/37.-Wong-Yun-Chak-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/37.-Wong-Yun-Chak-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/37.-Wong-Yun-Chak-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/37.-Wong-Yun-Chak-18x10.jpg 18w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/37.-Wong-Yun-Chak.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_971541495 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"gap-1836845229\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-1836845229 {\n  padding-top: 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #gap-1836845229 {\n    padding-top: 40px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n<p>Deputy Magistrate Eric Yao acquitted a defendant (&#8220;D&#8221;) charged with indecent assault and criminal damage and ordered the prosecution to pay costs to the defence (except costs for permanent stay application).<br \/><br \/>Both D and the complainant, X, were around 17 and did not know one another. The prosecution case was that D followed X on a rainy night and brushed X\u2019s breast once. It was said that D threw X\u2019s phone with great force onto the ground. In stark contrast, the defence case was that D slipped and fell amidst the rain and fell onto X. Only X\u2019s back was bumped into by D&#8217;s elbow by accident. Both D&#8217;s and X\u2019s phones dropped to the ground. When D tried to pass X\u2019s phone to X, X asked for a compensation of HK$ 2,000 from D and threatened to call the police if the demand was refused. D refused, and X called the police. <br \/><br \/>The trial began with a permanent stay application since on-site police officers said they thought they were investigating a \u201crobbery\u201d case as requested by the 999-call centre. When defence tried to obtain the audio recording of the 999 call made by X, it was revealed that the police did not seize the recording and it was no longer available due to lapse of time. Having heard arguments, the court dismissed the permanent stay application. <br \/><br \/>The Magistrate found numerous doubts in the prosecution\u2019s case. <br \/><br \/>(i) X said she called Y, her boyfriend, immediately after the alleged incident. However, X never complained about being molested \u2013 rather X only said her mouth was covered by someone. <br \/><br \/>(ii) Y gave a different account of what X told her in the alleged call, adding that X complained of being pushed onto the ground. X&#8217;s and Y\u2019s accounts were simply different. <br \/><br \/>(iii) By way of admitted facts, the prosecution and the defence agreed the call history between X and Y. There was never a call between them after the alleged indecent assault. The court had great doubt accepting X\u2019s and Y\u2019s version. <br \/><br \/>(iv) X subsequently called 999. Yet, when making the report, X never complained being indecently assaulted. Instead, she complained her mobile phone being snatched. The court found that beyond imagination.<br \/><br \/>(v) X gave numerous versions about how she told the police about the indecent assault, including \u201cher left breast being brushed\u201d, \u201cher right breast being brushed\u201d, \u201cshe forgot which side of her breast being brushed\u201d, and \u201cshe already forgotten how she told the police at the scene\u201d. <br \/><br \/>(vi) The court inspected the state of X&#8217;s mobile phone. If X\u2019s version that D threw her phone onto the floor was true, the extent of damage would not have been so minor.<br \/><br \/>The Magistrate found X unreliable and found D not guilty in both charges. <br \/><br \/>Simon So, appearing with Herman Ho, represented D in the 3-day trial. They also made a High Court bail application before Anna Lai J after Ag Principal Magistrate Winnie Lau refused admitting D to bail when he was first charged. The Judge granted D bail after him being remanded for 7 days.<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"gap-219729121\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-219729121 {\n  padding-top: 60px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t<div class=\"ux-menu stack stack-col justify-start ux-menu--divider-solid\">\n\t\t\n\n\t<div class=\"ux-menu-link flex menu-item menu-button-link\">\n\t\t<a class=\"ux-menu-link__link flex\" href=\"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/news\/\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"ux-menu-link__text\">\n\t\t\t\tBack to News\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<style>\n#section_645696523 {\n  padding-top: 0px;\n  padding-bottom: 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/section>\n\t\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deputy Magistrate Eric Yao acquitted a defendant (&#8220;D&#8221;) charged with indecent assault and criminal damage and ordered the prosecution to pay costs to the defence (except costs for permanent stay application).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1096,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}