Case closed on door-closing case: Hong Kong court rules man jailed for shutting a car door was not tampering with it
Judge criticises six-week jail sentence as definition of vehicle tampering challenged
A man jailed six weeks for closing a car door was wrongfully convicted of "tampering" with it, Hong Kong's top court ruled, saying the case highlighted a defect in the city's legal system.
Law Yat-ting, who won his appeal yesterday, was seen closing a door of a van in May last year. The driver alleged that Law stole his phone, which was not substantiated. The prosecution, which did not dispute Law's appeal this time, had earlier charged him with tampering with a motor vehicle in violation of the Road Traffic Ordinance.
Without legal representation when he appeared at trial in Tsuen Wan Court, Law failed to deliver a legal argument on the meaning of "tampering".
Relying on the driver's account, Deputy Magistrate Jim Chun-ki convicted Law in June last year, a decision upheld on appeal by Mr Justice Patrick Li Hon-leung of the Court of First Instance, which also did not hear from Law's legal aid lawyer a submission on what "tampering" meant under the ordinance.
"It is an example, unfortunately, of … a material point of law" not being raised in lower courts, wrote Permanent Judge Mr Justice Joseph Fok, of the Court of Final Appeal.
He said the six-week sentence was "most regrettable" and "could have been mitigated by a more timely appeal coupled with an application for bail".
The court unanimously accepted the argument raised jointly by pro-bono lawyer Eric Cheung Tat-ming - a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong who helped Law clear his name after he completed the jail term - and the Department of Justice.
The court said in a press summary that the "mere act of touching" the van did not harm or alter it, so could not be tampering.
