Re Lo Fook Hing

HCMP361/2006

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO. 361 OF 2006

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Coram:  Deputy High Court Judge L. Chan in Chambers (Open to public)

Date of Hearing:  9 March 2006

Date of Delivery of Ruling:  9 March 2006

R U L I N G

1.This is an application for a declaration that Lo Fook-hing (盧福興) (hereinafter called “Lo”) be presumed to have died on 28 November 1998. 

2.The applicant is the lawful wife of Lo.  She married Lo on 6 February 1984 at the Aberdeen Marriage Registry.  Their matrimonial home was at Room 652, 6th Floor, Block 10, Wong Chuk Hang Estate, Aberdeen, Hong Kong.  The applicant still lives there.  The applicant on 1 April 1987 gave birth to a daughter, Lo Chor-kiu (盧楚喬).

3.Lo was employed by one Kwan Tat-ming (關達明) to work on Kwan’s fishing vessel No. M64019A.  Kwan’s business was to catch fishes in the South China Sea for sale in Hong Kong.  On 28 November 1998 Kwan’s vessel went to Kiribati via the Philippines for fishes.  Lo was a member of the crew on board.  His fellow crewmembers were Law Ko-sing (羅高勝), Law Chun-wai (羅振威), Ho Wai-hung (何煒雄), Yang Deqiu (楊德秋), Yang Lixian (楊立先) and Yang Guowei (楊國威).

4.The vessel departed Hong Kong at about 1 pm on 28 November 1998.  At about 6 pm Hong Kong time on the same day, one Law Ko-tak, who is the elder brother of the said Law Ko-sing, had communicated with the said vessel through the wireless phone.  That communication, unfortunately, was the last one with the vessel as Law Ko-tak could not establish contact with it again.  The applicant also lost contact with Lo.

5.On 7 January 1999, Law Ko-tak wrote to the New China News Agency (“新華社”) to seek help to locate the said vessel.  The request for help was then passed to the Security Bureau of the Hong Kong Government.  The Commissioner of Security replied to Law Ko-tak on 22 May 1999 that the Bureau had made inquiries with the relevant authorities of the Mainland, the Philippines and Indonesia.  The Commissioner further said that the Marine Department had also requested the marine rescue teams of Kiribati, Manila, Jakarta, Suva and the American Pacific and the Coast Guards of Guam to help locate the said vessel, but none of them had found any trace of it.

6.Ever since Lo’s disappearance on 28 November 1998, the applicant has not received from him or any of his fellow crewmembers aforesaid any letter or any other communication.  The applicant’s inquiries with all the members of Lo’s family and friends and persons likely to have seen or heard from him including the family members of the aforesaid crewmembers, but such inquiries have proved fruitless.

7.The applicant and her daughter are still living at the matrimonial home.  The applicant has not changed the telephone number of her home or her mobile telephone number since 1998.  Lo would have been able to contact the applicant at home or at her mobile telephone if he had wanted to do so.

8.In an attempt to locate Lo, the applicant’s solicitors had caused an advertisement to be published in the 16 December 2005 edition of the Sing Tao Daily and the 21 December 2005 edition of Sing Pao seeking response from Lo, but there was no response. 

9.Since the applicant has not seen or heard from Lo from 28 November 1998 and there has been no information about him since that day, I agree that this declaration should be made.  I therefore declare that Lo be presumed to have died on 28 November 1998. 

Mr Leung Kim-wah, Andy of Messrs Edmund Cheung & Co., for the Applicant