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Cliff Buddle

A 90-YEAR-OLD woman who claims she has been swindled by three of her children will put her case to a judge on Monday in the first High Court trial to be conducted entirely in Chinese.

   The Chief Justice has given permission for Cantonese to be used in the civil proceedings because of the special nature of the case.

 Sun Ey-jo and her children, Lo-ching, Lo-kin and Lo-kun, do not speak English and have no lawyer.

 A mass of documentation, written in Chinese and dating back 30 years, is to be produced in the trial.

 'The circumstances of this case are considered suitable for the use of Chinese,' said a Judiciary spokesman.

 And Chief Justice Sir Ti Liang Yang has gazetted a notice stating Cantonese may be used in the proceedings.

 High Court cases have always been conducted in English, although interpreters frequently translate the proceedings.

 Proceedings are conducted in English even if the judge and all parties in the case are native Chinese speakers.

 But new legislation allows for Chinese to be used in the High Court.

 The Judiciary says it is not expecting to receive a flood of applications for other cases to be conducted in Chinese and there are no other such cases in the pipe-line.

 But the move is part of the policy of gradually introducing the use of Chinese in Hong Kong's courts.

 Chinese has already been used in many cases at the magistrates' courts.

 But Monday's trial will be the first occasion this has been allowed at a higher level.

 The proceedings are to be heard by Mr Justice Yeung and are to last five days.

 The judge is even expected to write his ruling in Chinese.

 Computerised equipment will record the hearing.

 The Judiciary did not expect any legal problems to arise as a result of the use of Cantonese, the spokesman said.

 But the judge has the right to use English as well, if he feels it is necessary.

 Last month, four mock trials were staged at the High Court to test the use of a simultaneous translation system that would allow hearings to be conducted in English and Chinese at the same time.

 Ms Sun claims in three writs, handwritten in English, that she has been cheated out of $100,000 linked to the purchase of a property on Cheung Chau.

 She alleges she gave the money to Lo-kun for the purchase of the flat and allowed all three defendants to conduct the procedures in her absence.

 In one of the writs, she says: 'They swindle me. They swallow my property.' 



First case to be heard in Chinese