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Nick Gentle

Case proceeds without man who faces jail for calling judge a crook

A court yesterday took the unusual step of proceeding with a contempt hearing in the absence of the accused after he again failed to make an appearance.

High Court justices Azizul Suffiad and Michael Hartmann found Choy Bing-wing was attempting to evade the jurisdiction of the court, and ruled proceedings against him could begin in his absence.

Choy faces a custodial sentence for calling Court of Appeal vice-president Mr Justice Anthony Rogers a crook, a cheat and a disgrace during a civil hearing on May 2, 2003.

Yesterday's hearing was originally set for February last year, but had been continuously delayed by Choy.

Government counsel Gerard McCoy said Mr Choy's non-appearance after having the previous hearing adjourned because of an attack of gout was yet another attempt to delay the proceedings.

'He is deliberately putting himself outside the reach of the court ... this cannot go on,' Mr McCoy said, reminding the court of its discretionary power to proceed without the accused if it believed that person was trying to evade justice.

In adjourning the previous hearing, Mr Justice Hartmann had indicated that Choy needed to be given every opportunity to attend the hearing and mount a defence.

Since then, Mr McCoy said, the court bailiff had attempted three times to serve Choy with a notice of yesterday's hearing, while government counsel had sent two letters - one by registered post - and a facsimile.

In reply, Choy wrote a letter to the clerk of the court - copied to the presidents of the US and France, the World Economic Forum and local media outlets - acknowledging that someone was trying to serve a notice on him.

'He knows exactly what is happening. He is trying to take shelter behind the requirement for personal service,' Mr McCoy said.

After a brief conference, the justices agreed.

'We are satisfied that Mr Choy has evaded service [of the notice] and in all circumstances the court should exercise its discretion to dispense with service,' said Mr Justice Hartmann.

Mr McCoy then moved on to the evidence against Choy, which included a notice of motion and a sworn affidavit alleging Mr Justice Rogers had engaged in fraud, dishonesty, fabricating evidence and other 'crookery acts'.

He then presented a tape of Choy's May 2003 tirade in open court, in which Mr Justice Rogers was called a 'crook' 36 times in 30 minutes and subjected to various other accusations.

'This is a particularly egregious contempt case ... and there's certainly been nothing like it before in Hong Kong ... it deserves to be punished by imprisonment,' Mr McCoy said.

The case had been further aggravated by Choy repeating his accusations to the media and his refusal to apologise, despite being given many opportunities.

The hearing resumes today.



Contempt accused misses hearing