The Court of Appeal yesterday lowered the damages a woman must pay a private investigator whom she accused of blackmail - and with whom she had a sexual relationship after hiring him to find out whether her lover was having an affair.
The court lowered the amount she must pay from HK$600,000 to HK$200,000. However, it dismissed all other grounds in her appeal. She must still pay HK$75,000 in special damages that were previously awarded to the private investigator.
The woman, identified only as T in court, had been the mistress of a wealthy businessman and had two children with him. In 2005, she suspected he was having an affair and hired an investigator, Shiu Wai-tuen, to find out. Later, T, then aged 43, halted the investigation and started a sexual relationship with Shiu, who was then in his mid-20s, which lasted until 2007. During their relationship, she gave him HK$17.8 million.
T claimed she gave Shiu the money in part as loans, and in part because Shiu threatened to show the businessman video recordings of them having sex. But Shiu said T had given him the money as gifts and denied having to pay T back.
T sued Shiu to repay the HK$17.8 million sum but a court dismissed her claim. Instead, it backed Shiu's assertion that T had engaged in malicious prosecution against him.
The appeal court said the judge had been 'entirely correct in ruling that all the ingredients of malicious prosecution have been proved'.