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Name discrepancy did not let cat out of the bag - judge

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A judge stopped a pet cat from clawing apart two lovebirds yesterday.

Filipino nightclub cashier Alicia Aspuria's marriage had been declared a sham after she told an immigration officer the animal had no name and was referred to simply as Meow-Meow.

Her husband, Cheung Vic-man, had said the cat was called Dau-Dau and the Director of Immigration believed the discrepancy helped prove the marriage was a pretence.

The department then refused to grant 35-year-old Ms Aspuria an extension of stay in Hong Kong.

But Mr Justice Arthur Leong Shiu-chung yesterday ruled the cat should not have come between hairdresser Mr Cheung, 27, and Ms Aspuria.

Mr Justice Leong said: 'I fail to see how the Director of Immigration could have relied on this to show inconsistency and conclude that the relationship was not one of husband and wife.' The judge overturned the department's decision and ordered that the director reconsider Ms Aspuria's case.

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