A HIGH Court judge said he was taken aback after a jury yesterday found a 29-year-old cook guilty of burgling a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel but acquitted him of wounding a security guard with a screwdriver.
After the jury left court, defence counsel Michael Poll described the verdicts as peculiar and apparently inconsistent with the evidence.
Security guard Lee King-cheong, who was left slightly brain damaged by the attack, had testified that the intruder he saw taking cigarettes from a cashier's office in the Ambassador Hotel was the man who wounded him.
The jury found Kwok Hoi-yuen guilty of burglary but not guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Mr Justice Chan said he was taken aback by the verdicts; he had expected either two convictions or two acquittals. Mr Poll told the judge he would appeal. Because of the ''somewhat puzzling verdict'' he made an unusual request for bail, pending sentence.Mr Justice Chan allowed Kwok to continue his bail until sentencing on March 14.
Kwok had denied both charges, testifying that he was wrongly identified by Mr Lee. His mother and brother testified that at the time of the burglary Kwok was in bed asleep.