PHU THUY BAO v. THE QUEEN
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CACC000014/1981
| IN THE SUPREME COURT | Criminal Appeal |
| 1981, No. 14 |
| BETWEEN | ||
| PHU THUY BAO | Appellant | |
| and | ||
| THE QUEEN |
Coram: Barker, J.
Date of Judgment: 29th January, 1981.
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JUDGMENT
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1. Phu Thuy Bao appeals against his conviction of theft on the 28th November 1980 at the San Po Kong Magistrate's Court. His grounds of appeal as set out in his notice of appeal were that there was no evidence or no sufficient evidence whereon to found the said conviction. However, subsequently to entering that notice of appeal there has been filed on his behalf two affidavits, one by a man called Ha Quyen and the other by a man called Phu Kim Giuong. It appears that these two men were in fact in court at the trial of the appellant but they did not give evidence. It should be said that the appellant is Vietnamese as were the two men to whom I have referred and the appellant was unrepresented. Had these two given evidence and had they given evidence on the lines set out in their affirmations their evidence would have gone to support the defence of alibi which was being put by the appellant. In these circumstances Mr. Alderdice who appeared for the Crown took the view and very properly took the view that it would be in the interests of justice if I were to order a retrial. I share his view. No possible criticism can be directed towards the learned magistrate who was unaware of the presence and indeed of the existence of these two possible witnesses but it may be that justice has not in fact been done through no fault of the magistrate. In these circumstances I order a retrial, the trial to take place as soon as possible. I order that the appellant be granted bail in the sum of $1,000 with a requirement that he reports between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays to the Ngau Tau Kok Police Station and I further order that his recognizance may be taken before a commissioner of Prisons.
Representation:
H.L. Wong (Woo Kwan Lee & Lo) for appellant
Alderdice for Crown/Respondent