Banker acquitted of assault after ex-wife declines to give evidence

A top banker was acquitted of assaulting his former wife yesterday after she declined to testify for the prosecution.

Liu Hao-cheng, 38, pleaded not guilty to two charges of assault on Tiffany Cheng at their Repulse Bay home in December last year. Without Ms Cheng's statement in court, prosecuting barrister Winnifred Kwoh said the prosecution was unable to call any evidence against the defendant unless the case was adjourned.

Magistrate Bina Chainrai, saying Ms Cheng's future attendance was questionable, refused to grant the adjournment and dismissed the charges after Ms Kwoh indicated no evidence could be presented.

Liu, managing director of a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, was accused of assaulting his infant daughter in August. He was acquitted in October when Magistrate Joseph To Ho-shing accepted Liu was a loving father and disbelieved Ms Cheng's testimony regarding the assaults.

For yesterday's case, Ms Cheng wrote a letter to Eastern Court informing the magistrate she was unable to attend the trial to testify for the prosecution. She said she and her daughter were staying in the United States and she would not return to Hong Kong because of financial difficulties in arranging the flight.

Senior counsel Alexander King, representing Liu, contended that the case should not be adjourned because Ms Cheng had no incentive to return to Hong Kong and was avoiding her obligation as she had before.