links for 2010-08-05

Then there was the 2000 case of Godfrey Nguyen Gia Huy, the youngest son of Peter Nguyen, who was then a High Court judge. The young Nguyen was caught with Ecstasy at a disco and charged with drug possession. Several months later, the Department of Justice decided not to prosecute him after getting advice that it was not in the public interest to do so. Nguyen, 21 at the time and a student at Boston University, was bound over for the sum of HK$2,000 for two years. The department was pressured to explain prosecution policy.

Rights advocate David Webb yesterday drew attention to inconsistencies in sentencing for assaults on police officers. He pointed to the case of Yiu Chi-shing, a first offender who was sentenced to 14 days in jail last year by a Kwun Tong Court magistrate. Yiu, of previous good character, pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer. He admitted slapping a constable's face while being questioned at a police station. In June the sentence was upheld. Dismissing Yiu's appeal, Madam Justice Verina Bokhary - Amina Bokhary's aunt - said:

Absolutely fascinating talk about motivation and what drives people.