{"id":1233,"date":"2025-07-15T23:37:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T15:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2025-07-16T23:57:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:57:58","slug":"court-quashed-conviction-of-possession-of-offensive-weapon-on-the-basis-of-lurking-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/court-quashed-conviction-of-possession-of-offensive-weapon-on-the-basis-of-lurking-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"\u6cd5\u5ead\u57fa\u65bc\u6848\u4e2d\u63ee\u4e4b\u4e0d\u53bb\u4e4b\u7591\u616e\u88c1\u5b9a\u4e0a\u8a34\u4eba\u7ba1\u6709\u653b\u64ca\u6027\u6b66\u5668\u7684\u4e0d\u670d\u5b9a\u7f6a\u4e0a\u8a34\u5f97\u76f4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<section class=\"section news-detail-section\" id=\"section_1719062174\">\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-486478238\" 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_1719062174 {\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_500131833\">\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-1674526745\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1001235424\" 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-1230859475\" class=\"text h3\">\n\t\t\n\n<p>Court quashed conviction of possession of offensive weapon on the basis of lurking doubt<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-202875938\" class=\"text h5\">\n\t\t\n\n<p><strong>HKSAR v Tsang Man Tat (\u66fe\u6587\u9054)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-202875938 {\n  font-size: 1.25rem;\n  text-align: left;\n  color: #003d4c;\n}\n#text-202875938 > * {\n  color: #003d4c;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-4188899122\" class=\"text txt-bold\">\n\t\t\n\n<p>15 July 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_1254186444\">\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\/2025\/07\/Tsang-Man-Tat-1024x576.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tsang-Man-Tat-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tsang-Man-Tat-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tsang-Man-Tat-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tsang-Man-Tat-18x10.jpeg 18w, https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tsang-Man-Tat.jpeg 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_1254186444 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"gap-1286932802\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-1286932802 {\n  padding-top: 0px;\n}\n@media (min-width:550px) {\n  #gap-1286932802 {\n    padding-top: 40px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n<p>DHCJ Edmond Lee quashed a conviction of possession of offensive weapon (namely two plastic \u201csticks\u201d) on the basis that the prosecution\u2019s case contained lurking doubt.<\/p>\n<p>The Appellant faced a charge of possession of offensive weapon, namely two plastic \u201csticks\u201d (\u201c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc04\ud835\udc31\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1b\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2c\u201d), when he was driving a private vehicle in Mongkok in 2023. He pleaded not guilty and stood trial before a Deputy Magistrate. The prosecution relied upon an alleged oral confession of the defendant, who said \u201dI used these two plastic sticks to protect myself and for self defence, give me a chance please\u201d (\u5462\u5169\u689d\u81a0\u689d\u6211\u7528\u569f\u9632\u8eab\u81ea\u885b\uff0c\u6bd4\u6b21\u6a5f\u6703\u5566\u3002) (\u201c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc00\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc20\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1d \ud835\udc02\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc27\u201d). Despite the objection, the Magistrate ruled that the Alleged Confession was admissible. The Appellant called himself, his friend (Lee) (who was in the Appellant&#8217;s vicinity at the time when stopped by police officers) and Lee\u2019s sister. The defence case was that the Exhibits were used to elevate the washing machine in the home of Lee\u2019s sister as water was coming out therefrom. The elevated washing machine could facilitate Lee\u2019s sister to dry the water coming out from the machine. The Magistrate rejected the entirety of the defence case and convicted the Appellant. He was sentenced to 2 months &#8216; immediate imprisonment. On application, bail pending appeal was granted.<\/p>\n<p>On appeal, DHCJ Edmond Lee found that the prosecution\u2019s case led him with doubt:-<\/p>\n<p>(1) The Exhibits itself was not only blunt but also not thick (50 cm (l) x 4 cm (w) x 1 cm (h)). The Court considered that even if being used, the harm it could create is not only not large, but it would also not even cause much of a threat to others: [40].<\/p>\n<p>(2) Further, the Court noted that police officers at the scene never took photos of how the Exhibits were placed inside the vehicles and whether other renovation-related apparatus (namely gloves, hammer(s), and\/or clamp(s)) existed. The Court found it \u201cstrange\u201d that police officers repeatedly said under cross-examination that he \u201ccould not remember\u201d whether there were renovation-related items found during the car search: [41].<\/p>\n<p>The Court also found the Magistrate to have adopted a harsh and critical (\u82db\u523b) approach when considering the defence case: [46]. On a rehearing, the Court found that the defence case was largely consistent and the prosecution had no evidence to rebut the defence case: [47]-[49]. In light of the flaw within the prosecution\u2019s case and the intact defence case which was not refuted by the prosecution, the court found there to be a lurking doubt: [50]. The Court therefore quashed the conviction and awarded 50% of the costs of the appeal to the Appellant.<\/p>\n<p>Simon So appeared with Herman Ho for the Appellant in the appeal. The full judgment was published on <a href=\"https:\/\/legalref.judiciary.hk\/lrs\/common\/ju\/ju_frame.jsp?DIS=170507&amp;currpage=T\">https:\/\/legalref.judiciary.hk\/lrs\/common\/ju\/ju_frame.jsp?DIS=170507&amp;currpage=T<\/a>. They were also trial counsel in the 4-day trial before the Magistrate.<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"gap-1689552722\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-1689552722 {\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\/zh\/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_500131833 {\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>\u539f\u8a1f\u5ead\u66ab\u59d4\u6cd5\u5b98\u674e\u4fca\u6587\u57fa\u65bc\u63a7\u65b9\u6848\u4e2d\u63ee\u4e4b\u4e0d\u53bb\u4e4b\u7591\u616e\u88c1\u5b9a\u4e0a\u8a34\u4eba\u7ba1\u6709\u653b\u64ca\u6027\u6b66\u5668 (\u5373\u5169\u689d\u81a0\u689d) \u7684\u4e0d\u670d\u5b9a\u7f6a\u4e0a\u8a34\u5f97\u76f4\u3002<\/p>","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-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1238,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions\/1238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonsochambers.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}