3 Hong Kong judges deny Jimmy Lai defence team’s request to recall key prosecution witness to the stand

West Kowloon Court heard on Thursday that Lai’s legal team had had “more than reasonable opportunities” to test former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung’s knowledge of a series of “lunchbox meetings” among senior executives of the now-defunct tabloid when he took the witness box earlier this year.

Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios said on behalf of the bench that “more than sufficient notice” had been tendered to the defence about the existence of the meetings’ abstracts, but it was not until the middle of Cheung’s court testimony that Lai’s lawyers realised their importance to their case.

She stressed prosecutors were never in possession of any such abstract stored on workplace communication app Slack nor was it accessible by them.

The judge also highlighted that Lai was himself a participant in the relevant Slack conversations and that the defence had more than two years to prepare for their case after receiving the sworn statements of Cheung and other witnesses.

“Whatever motivation may be, it is not for us to determine, but looking solely at the facts, it is clearly not in the interest of justice to allow the recall of [Cheung],” Remedios added.