Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| DOI | 10.1177/002201838905300305 |
| Published date | 01 August 1989 |
| Date | 01 August 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
JUDICIAL
COMMITTEE
OF
THE
PRIVY
COUNCIL
ADMISSION OF EVIDENCE OF PREVIOUS CONVICfIONS
Attorney-General
of
Hong Kong v. Siu Yuk-shing
The
exclusion of evidence of previous convictions is usually
explained as being for
the
reason
that
such evidence in itself does
no more
than tend
to show a mere propensity to commit crime:
Makin v. Att.-Gen. for N.S.
W.
[1984]
A.C. 57. In Att.-Gen.
of
Hong Kong v. Siu Yuk-shing
[1989]
1
W.L.R.
236, however, the
prosecutor applied to
the
judge to exercise his discretion to admit
such evidence, on the ground
that
any evidence can be admitted
to prove
the
offence charged, even though it also discloses
the
commission of
another
criminal offence. In this case,
the
accused
was charged with being a
member
of, and assisting in
the
manage-
ment
of, and possessing
the
insignia and writing relating to, an
unlawful society.
The
defendant
had
not given evidence at his
trial,
but
the witnesses for the prosecution were cross-examined
on his behalf in such a way as to suggest
that,
since
the
items
found in his possession could be bought openly in
the
shops of
Hong
Kong, his physical possession of them was capable of an
innocent interpretation.
(The
witnesses conceded
that
the articles
could be so purchased,
but
suggested
that
the articles
taken
together could lead only to the conclusion
that
they were employed
in the ritual of the unlawful society.)
The
offence set
out
in
the
Societies Ordinance, section 2, is
that
of being found in possession
of or having
the
custody and control of the impugned articles.
The
prosecution conceded
that
under
that
section
the
onus was on it
to establish
that
the
defendant
had
knowledge
that
the
articles
related to the society's
ritual-particularly
as the articles could be
purchased by any tourist to
Hong
Kong.
It
therefore applied for
the admission of evidence of the defendant's earlier conviction of
membership of
the
society, as
that
would establish
that
he must
know its ritual
and
therefore
that
the articles were associated with
it.
The
judge admitted evidence of
the
defendant's conviction of
327
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