{"id":1348,"date":"2025-08-01T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T10:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/?p=1348"},"modified":"2026-03-08T18:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:11:52","slug":"court-passed-suspended-sentence-to-a-defendant-pleading-guilty-to-money-laundering-charge-of-hk-1-4-million-due-to-delay-in-prosecution-and-special-circumstances-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/court-passed-suspended-sentence-to-a-defendant-pleading-guilty-to-money-laundering-charge-of-hk-1-4-million-due-to-delay-in-prosecution-and-special-circumstances-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Court of Appeal quashed murder conviction of the appellant on the basis of admitted fresh evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<section class=\"section news-detail-section\" id=\"section_305456392\">\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-1226936919\" 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_305456392 {\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_2085577044\">\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-1496499376\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-899068520\" 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-472845686\" class=\"text h3\">\n\t\t\n\n<p>Court of Appeal quashed murder conviction of hte appellant on the basis of admitted fresh evidence<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-2961502443\" class=\"text h5\">\n\t\t\n\n<p><strong>HKSAR v Lai Kan Yau (\u9ece\u8b39\u53cb)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-2961502443 {\n  font-size: 1.25rem;\n  text-align: left;\n  color: #003d4c;\n}\n#text-2961502443 > * {\n  color: #003d4c;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-2639512221\" class=\"text txt-bold\">\n\t\t\n\n<p>1 August 2025<\/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_1437367629\">\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\/2026\/03\/55.-Lai-Kan-Yau-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/55.-Lai-Kan-Yau-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/55.-Lai-Kan-Yau-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/55.-Lai-Kan-Yau-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/55.-Lai-Kan-Yau-18x10.jpg 18w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/55.-Lai-Kan-Yau.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_1437367629 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"gap-166806185\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-166806185 {\n  padding-top: 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #gap-166806185 {\n    padding-top: 40px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n<p>Court of Appeal, constituted of Macrae CJHC (Ag), Zervos JA, and Anthea Pang JA quashed murder conviction of the appellant on the basis of admitted fresh evidence.<br \/><br \/>The appellant admitted to killing his father (\u201c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc03\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1d\u201d) but denied premeditation. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder and stood trial before Hon Joseph Yau J. The jury convicted the appellant, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.<br \/><br \/>On appeal, the appellant complained, amongst other things, that the appellant did not have a fair trial as the prosecution had put to the appellant that he lied about the deceased had called the appellant the day before the killing (\u201c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc0c\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc20 \ud835\udc02\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc25\u201d). As a result of that line of cross-examination, the Judge gave a lie direction to the jury. Fresh evidence later confirmed the call did occur, undermining the prosecution\u2019s attack on the appellant\u2019s credibility and raising concerns about the fairness of the trial.<br \/><br \/>The Court of Appeal held that the allegation that the appellant lied about the Missing Call constituted a material irregularity, as it directly affected his credibility before the jury. The Court of Appeal decided to allow the admission of fresh evidence to allow the Missing Call to be considered on appeal. The Court of Appeal declined to invoke the \ud835\udc5d\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udc63\ud835\udc56\ud835\udc60\ud835\udc5c and ordered the appeal be allowed with the murder conviction quashed and the life sentence set aside.<br \/><br \/>Simon So appeared as a led-junior with Prof Simon N.M. Young for the Appellant both in obtaining leave to appeal before Hon Zervos JA (leave judgment at [2022] HKCA 1777: <a class=\"VBLqHsHvuoZghLmlWyQapBMyykOxWXk \" tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/lnkd.in\/gHcwT9u6\" target=\"_self\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\">https:\/\/lnkd.in\/gHcwT9u6<\/a>) and the Full Court before Hon Macrae VP, Zervos, and Anthea Pang JJA (judgment before Full Court at [2025]\u00a0HKCA 719: <a class=\"VBLqHsHvuoZghLmlWyQapBMyykOxWXk \" tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/lnkd.in\/gJmeHEnA\" target=\"_self\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\">https:\/\/lnkd.in\/gJmeHEnA<\/a>).<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"gap-1745254660\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-1745254660 {\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_2085577044 {\n  padding-top: 0px;\n  padding-bottom: 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/section>\n\t\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Court of Appeal (constituted of Macrae CJHC (Ag), Zervos and Anthea Pang JJA) quashed murder conviction of an appellant. <\/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-1348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348","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=1348"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1354,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}