ROBERT Flickinger sat in the late afternoon darkness. Financially ruined, the emotional scars of his ordeal at the hands of the Hong Kong Government were plain to see.
''At my time of life I shouldn't have to be living [in Los Angeles] with my parents and surviving off the generosity of my family and friends,'' Mr Flickinger said.
He consoles himself with the thought that the legal scandal may soon be the basis for a Hollywood movie and provide the fodder for a book.
The 50-year-old American businessman made legal history last year by becoming the longest-held defendant awaiting trial in the territory, after spending 26 months jailed on the orders of the Hong Kong Government.
Mr Flickinger, safely back home in his native southern California since the end of November, originally faced 37 charges of conspiracy to defraud. However, the number of offences was reduced until there was only one charge outstanding. And, he was finally freed in September after a District Court judge ruled that guarantees provided under the Bill of Rights had been violated. The judge also found that the prosecution had been responsible for a ''catalogue of legal errors''.
''This should never have happened to anyone,'' Mr Flickinger said, as he stroked his pet dog Hollie. ''I keep asking myself, 'Why me?' It has had a devastating effect on my life just because one over-zealous prosecutor took it upon himself to persecute me, not because there was evidence that I was a criminal, but because he personally believed I was a criminal and nothing - not even the evidence - would dissuade him from that viewpoint.
