The wife and son of a prominent Chinese musician were spared jail yesterday when a magistrate accepted they helped mainland students without permits get work because of their ignorance of the law.
Instead, Magistrate Eddie Yip Chor-man gave Wong Hae, 27, the son of the 'King of Erhu' Wong Kwok-tong, and his mother Li Yuen-yung, 57, two-year suspended jail terms.
On January 15, the pair were convicted of 20 joint charges of aiding and abetting, counselling and procuring three mainland students to breach their conditions of stay in Hong Kong. Wong was also found guilty separately of another charge for the same offence.
Prosecutor Alex Lee, in response to Mr Yip's question as to why the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts had not been prosecuted over performances given by students without work permits, said those performances arranged by the academy were not commercial in nature.
Mr Lee said that in issuing student visas, the Immigration Department was aware overseas students of the academy would be required to perform outside as part of their learning.
'In contrast, the relationship between Wong and the hotel [where the students performed] was contractual and commercial,' he said.
Eastern Court heard that Wong, the music director of the Hong Kong Performing Arts Ensemble, and his mother helped students Gao Sijia, Han Ying and Chen Dongxiao stage evening performances in a restaurant at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel between July 1998 and May 1999.