Read the full judgment text of CACC 000029/1997 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 19 November 1997 before Power V-P, Mayo JA, Stuart-Moore J.
Criminal law – murder – wounding with intent – inconsistent verdicts – leave to appeal – costs – jurisdiction – Court of Appeal – HKSAR v Chiu Siu-tung – On 9 November 1991, a female staff member of Cheers Bar was assaulted by customers; after closing she returned with a group of men who attacked three brothers, killing one and wounding two – Identification evidence from victims and a witness implicated the applicant (Chiu Siu-tung) and his co-accused differently; the applicant owned the vehicle used by attackers – The applicant was convicted of murder and wounding with intent; he applied for leave to appeal on the ground that his conviction was inconsistent with the acquittal of his co-accused – The court applied R. v. Durante, holding that the burden is on the defendant to show that verdicts are so inconsistent that no reasonable jury could have reached differing conclusions; the evidence against each accused was very different, so the verdicts were not unreasonable – The 2nd applicant applied to appeal the trial judge's refusal of costs; the court held it had no jurisdiction to entertain such an appeal – Applications dismissed
Legal issues: Inconsistent verdicts – leave to appeal · Appeal against refusal of costs
Outcome: Application for leave to appeal against conviction dismissed for the 1st applicant; application for leave to appeal against refusal of costs dismissed for the 2nd applicant.