Judge 'erred in jailing anti-triad detective'
A former anti-triad detective who completed a jail sentence after being convicted of coaxing a witness to lie in a high-profile criminal case was only jailed because a District Court judge accepted the prosecution's half-baked theory about the case, the Court of Appeal said yesterday, two weeks after it tossed out Chan Yat-chuen's conviction for perverting the course of justice.
Contrary to what prosecutors argued at Mr Chan's 2006 trial, the evidence suggested that he was trying to find out who masterminded a plot to splash sulfuric acid on the daughter of a Tai Po district councillor two years earlier, the Court of Appeal said.
But District Court Judge Chua Fi-lan failed to properly assess Mr Chan's intent, sentencing him to 18 months in jail, the court added. Mr Chan appealed against the conviction and sentence.
'The allegation against [Mr Chan] was far from clear, and the prosecution's stated position seemed internally contradictory,' the three Court of Appeal judges - Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore, Mr Justice Michael Hartmann and Mr Justice Michael McMahon - said.
Mr Chan's trial heard that the attack was ordered by the gang leader of witness Ken Chan Yin-kin, as payback for swindling the victim's father, councillor Wan Hok-lim.
But the wrong woman, Mr Wan's daughter Wan Hang-chun, was targeted.
Ken Chan, who was jailed for 81/2 years for his part in the attack, said Chan Yat-chuen asked him to lie about the name of the mastermind.
