Like Tree109Likes

Guilty until proven innocent

Closed Thread
Page 7 of 9 FirstFirst ... 4 5 6 7 8 9 LastLast
  1. #61

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    3,886
    Quote Originally Posted by seirin:
    Precisely why it might not be a bad idea to hire a lawyer - they can probably advise there. However, I don't know what happens with legal fees if you hire a lawyer and the police suddenly drop their case.

    It's not about the monetary damages or fines but it would be good to teach them a lesson or two about how to behave a decent human being.
    Welcome to HK justice, there will be no lessons taught. There is no such offence as wasting your time, nor wasting police time.

    The fact the police have moved ahead with prosecution only goes to show what twats they are too.

    I'm not familiar with the careless driving offence, bit it sounds like you need a lawyer. For a traffic violation, I'd be tempted to take whatever free option I could get, but you should be fully conversant with the nature of the penalty, the potential criminal record, and the civil liability attached before you do that. Lawyers are expensive and even if you win any case it will still cost you significant amounts. Costs paid by the court to those obviously innocent typically (assuming the judge grants you costs) run at around 60%-70%.

    So you could already be in the hole for 10-100k.

    It's deeply unfair, the police are well known for prosecuting non-chinese when the complainant is Chinese.

    It's not 'pointless' to plead guilty at this stage, it would be positively stupid....

  2. #62

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    1,015

    I will say that if the other guy is Chinese, you won't be able to teach him anything about the law nor civil behavior. He can smell a buck and won't relent.

    blandy62 likes this.

  3. #63

    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong side
    Posts
    1,824

    The housing estates in Hong Kong are full of heavily lawyered up road traffic accident victims pursuing whiplash claims and the like . Did the other party brake suddenly .?

    I agree with the suggestion the other party has probably lodged a claim and needs you to admit blame. Be careful any admission may have civil consequence later insurance company trying to recoup losses .

    Road traffic accident injury claims are of course only outnumbered by work injury related paper cuts. These take years to work their way through the system and I can assure you the claimants aren't representing themselves .

    You and I are paying for their years of free legal advice via the legal aid scheme .

    I suggest you see if you qualify for legal aid via the relevant government department .

    Last edited by hongkong7; 14-07-2021 at 12:04 AM.
    Sage likes this.

  4. #64

    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    2,711

    interesting similarities:

    i accidentally reversed into another car leaving the tiniest of scratches. the village hooligan wanted 10+k, i offered a generous 3k and he didn't accept. going through police and insurance process now and the police is also talking to me in whatsapp lol

    rs4 likes this.

  5. #65

    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    7,463
    Quote Originally Posted by cookie09:
    interesting similarities:

    i accidentally reversed into another car leaving the tiniest of scratches. the village hooligan wanted 10+k, i offered a generous 3k and he didn't accept. going through police and insurance process now and the police is also talking to me in whatsapp lol
    There is a reason why car cams are so popular these days with HK car owners. There are more and more of these folks who want a payout or intentionally exaggerating the damage to their cars on the most ridiculous grounds, faking their injuries and using almost ambulance chasing-style lawyers to do their dirty deeds.

    That is why it is always prudent to arm yourself with evidence in the form of actual video of any incident. You can't count on the police these days to do what is right, you can only rely on yourself. So car cams are the way to go.
    emx, hongkong7, Sage and 1 others like this.

  6. #66

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    1,523

    UPDATE:

    Happy to inform everyone my case is closed and I have been acquitted. I went through the whole shebang of first hearing and represented myself in court (2 separate visits and a big waste of time).

    Not only was I, the defendant, acquitted for this ridiculous accusation, the judge says potentially the one at fault may be the opposing driver (the witness).

    My next steps is to follow up with the police to see if Careless driving charges will be laid to the opposition after what was determined in court. Police informed me they WILL NOT pursue any charges on accidents exceed 6 months. I was extremely pissed when I heard how carefree this cop was by saying he has no obligations to further investigate an expired case. I will file complaint against the officer if they do not apply the same charges to the opposition (complaint against police in hk...useful right?).

    In parallel, I will file a tort claim against the opposition driver for the damages to me (including annual leaves, taxi, study time, etc). Its not a strong tort claim, but its the principle


  7. #67

    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    7,463
    Quote Originally Posted by D.YU:
    UPDATE:

    Happy to inform everyone my case is closed and I have been acquitted. I went through the whole shebang of first hearing and represented myself in court (2 separate visits and a big waste of time).

    Not only was I, the defendant, acquitted for this ridiculous accusation, the judge says potentially the one at fault may be the opposing driver (the witness).

    My next steps is to follow up with the police to see if Careless driving charges will be laid to the opposition after what was determined in court. Police informed me they WILL NOT pursue any charges on accidents exceed 6 months. I was extremely pissed when I heard how carefree this cop was by saying he has no obligations to further investigate an expired case. I will file complaint against the officer if they do not apply the same charges to the opposition (complaint against police in hk...useful right?).

    In parallel, I will file a tort claim against the opposition driver for the damages to me (including annual leaves, taxi, study time, etc). Its not a strong tort claim, but its the principle
    I say sue the other guy. Claim damages. Or better yet, get your insurance company to take action for you.

  8. #68

    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Posts
    327

    Congrats. Glad it worked out for you.


  9. #69

    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    3,988
    Quote Originally Posted by cookie09:
    interesting similarities:

    i accidentally reversed into another car leaving the tiniest of scratches. the village hooligan wanted 10+k, i offered a generous 3k and he didn't accept. going through police and insurance process now and the police is also talking to me in whatsapp lol
    the other driver may have arranged a quote from his "friend" for $9,999 , I would consider getting some real quotes to have in your hand ready.

  10. #70

    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    7,463
    Quote Originally Posted by Sage:
    Welcome to HK justice, there will be no lessons taught. There is no such offence as wasting your time, nor wasting police time.

    The fact the police have moved ahead with prosecution only goes to show what twats they are too.

    It's not 'pointless' to plead guilty at this stage, it would be positively stupid....
    Sounds like you had quite a few brushes with the law here in HK. Do divluge the nature of your criminal record.

Closed Thread
Page 7 of 9 FirstFirst ... 4 5 6 7 8 9 LastLast