A HIGH Court judge yesterday upheld the individual's right to silence by quashing the conviction of a 57-year-old woman whose failure to talk to the police saw her spending 10 days in jail.
Mr Justice Sears said the magistrate who found Ko Yiu-chun guilty was wrong to treat her silence as evidence of guilt.
'There is a common law right to silence. You don't have to say anything,' the judge said.
He said a failure to answer police questions 'means nothing'.
Ms Ko, a widowed noodle shop owner and mother of four children, was arrested after police raided her shop in Shamshuipo and found an illegal immigrant working in the kitchen. The immigrant told police Ms Ko knew she was in Hong Kong unlawfully.
Ms Ko was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment in January by magistrate Jeremy Poon for helping an illegal immigrant stay in Hong Kong, and spent 10 days in custody before being released pending her appeal.
Mr Poon rejected the illegal immigrant's evidence during the trial as 'wholly unacceptable'. But he said Ms Ko's silence in the face of the allegations against her was an acceptance of guilt.