A corruption conviction was quashed yesterday because a judge broke the rules by turning 'detective' and finding her own evidence to use when reaching a guilty verdict.
Judge Wong Hing-chun read diaries kept by the defendant and studied material that had not been raised during the six-day trial.
She then used the 'cryptic' entries to make findings against restaurateur Chan Cheung-chor, 52, who she found guilty of bribing a corrupt health inspector.
Kevin Egan, for Chan, said the judge had engaged in 'her own detective work which she was never invited or entitled to conduct and the fruits of which had not been disclosed to the prosecution, defence and most importantly the defendant'. He told the Court of Appeal: 'This is of such magnitude and is so irreperable as to require the quashing of the conviction.' The prosecution had used as evidence five entries in three books from which the judge later drew other information.
'These five entries were clearly flagged in the books and were accompanied by a certified translation,' Mr Egan said.
'It could not have been in question that the only material going before the court by way of admissible evidence were those five entries.' Judges are not entitled to consider material not raised during a trial.