Hong Kong government urged to provide better court protection for mentally disabled victims
Team of lawyers, social workers and psychologists say victims should be allowed to give evidence through a pre-trial recording so they can avoid pain of being cross-examined
The legal rights of mentally disabled people should be better protected by allowing the admission of hearsay evidence and letting them give evidence through a pre-trial recording, a team of lawyers, social workers and psychologists say.
These are some of the 10 suggestions floated in a preliminary report compiled by the Civil Society Law Reform Committee, which was formed in the wake of a scandal last year involving the Bridge of Rehabilitation nursing home.
“It is a huge challenge for mentally disabled victims to go through cross-examination as they might suffer a breakdown,” committee member and barrister Linda Wong Shui-hung said. “The truth might be better heard in court if more protection is offered to victims.”
The court should implement the recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission in 2009 by admitting hearsay evidence – such as video interviews – even if witnesses were unable to attend court cross-examination, she said.
The committee also called on the government to launch a pilot project – similar to those in the UK and Australia – which offer vulnerable witnesses the option of giving evidence via a pre-trial recording as a way to prevent them from being victimised again in court.