Vinci Lam SC and Kasper Fan secured an acquittal for defendant accused of assaulting his wife in Redhill Peninsula

In HKSAR v Tung Hoi-Yee Kenneth (ESCC 1217/2025), Vinci Lam SC and Kasper Fan represented a defendant charged with assaulting his wife in their former matrimonial home.  The defendant elected not to testify in court and the defence case turned solely on the cross-examination of the wife.

After a 3-day trial, the Court accepted the defence’s submissions in their entirety. In particular, the Court held that the wife’s testimony was incredible and unreasonable; not only was her account of the incident inherently improbable, but the evidence regarding her injuries were also inconsistent with her allegations. Though unnecessary to be considered, the Court proceeded to accept the defence’s submissions that the wife had reasons to frame up the husband: namely that the allegation could advance the wife’s position in their ongoing divorce proceedings, and the defendant had, during an argument with the wife, exposed to their younger children the long-kept secret that he was not the father of their eldest sister (her father being the wife’s ex-boyfriend). Further, the Court also agreed it could not be ruled out that the wife had tampered with the CCTV footage allegedly showing the immediate aftermath of the assault, which was provided by the wife and heavily relied upon by the prosecution. The Court ultimately decided to place no weight on such footage.

The defendant was accordingly acquitted, and the defence’s application for costs was granted despite the prosecution’s opposition.

See Vinci’s profile here: https://www.plowmanchambers.com/team/vinci-lam-sc

See Kasper’s profile here: https://www.plowmanchambers.com/team/kasper-y.-c.-fan