新的朋友論

今天終審法院頒佈了探監服務公司職員往荔枝角覊押所聲稱探朋友案的判詞: HKSAR and WAN THOMAS (溫皓竣)&GUAN QIAOYONG (關巧用) FACC Nos. 6 and 7 of 2017。睇到我笑, 無計, 誰職級高, 誰就有道理。

假如標少作奸犯科, 有潛逃風險, 收押在荔枝角等候審訊。一天, 有條友叫馬鹿, akaYoga Bunny, 聲稱以朋友身分來探監, 帶了青邊鮑魚, 龍蝦伊麵, 再加燒鵝髀同一枝大啤(未定罪囚犯可以食自家餐, 不用吃皇家飯), 若果懲教署的人向我核實身分, 我一定會講我識佢係老鼠。唔係喎, 佢話成日喺你個blog留言, 係你網友, 即係你朋友囉, 終審法院話朋友定義廣闊:

40.  Apart from the wide meaning of the word itself, in the context of the Prison Rules, there are practical difficulties in evaluating the quality of relationship that should qualify a person as a “friend” of a prisoner.  Does a friend have to be on intimate or close terms to the prisoner?  Is a Facebook friend, whom the prisoner may never have met, sufficient?  What about other social media contacts or “pen pals” or friends of friends?  As the procedure for visiting prisoners at LCKRC described above shows, there is no practical way in which CSD staff can verify the degree of any claimed friendship.  A prisoner is left to determine who he is prepared to identify as his relatives and friends when he completes the Declared Visitors List and it would not seem realistic for CSD staff to vet this list to ascertain the quality of an asserted friendship.

咁呀, 佢咁好死, 請我食燒鵝髀, friend就friend喇, 但係條友出示身分證(甚至好似Raymond Yu咁, 出示回鄉證), 顯示身分, 我點知馬仔兔仔個真名係乜? 網上啲嘢都可以當真咩? 如果我係黑社會, 親戚就多囉, 又多咗個大佬, 同門兄弟又多, 老表又多, 到其時班公仔佬嚟探監, 個個都可以在關係一欄填上: 親戚。

我都估唔到終院會舉“McKenzie friend”, “next friend”, “friend of the court”, “my learned friend”這些法庭述語為例子來闡釋論據:

39.  The difficulties in defining the relationship of friend as requiring personal acquaintance is further complicated by the general use of the term “friend” to describe a number of what may be relatively impersonal relationships.  Thus, for example, the law recognises a “McKenzie friend” in the context of litigation who is a person who may sit with a litigant in person to give him advice and help him with the presentation of his case.[26] Similarly, under RHC Order 80 rule 2(1), a person under disability may not bring, or make a claim, in any proceedings except by his “next friend”, which capacity does not require a relationship having any particular degree of intimacy.  To take a further example, a “friend of the court” (amicus curiae) does not imply personal friendship between the advocate and the judge.  Nor, of course, is such personal friendship implied by the professional courtesy of barristers referring to each other in court as “my learned friend”.

講到尾如果強調被收押而未被定罪的人應受到支援, 譬如傷殘的祖母不能去探望, 咁都諗埋, 不愧是終審法院大老爺, 心思周密, 勝人一籌:

43.  In those circumstances, if (say) the disabled grandmother of a prisoner awaiting trial wanted to deliver some food that the prisoner particularly liked or to convey a personal message of support to him, for example, it would seem odd if the grandmother could not send her own friend to deliver that food or convey that message...

喂, 畀擔保條友好過喇。

考慮探監公司的職員聲稱是朋友, 究竟有沒有不誠實意念, 終院首先斷估:

54.  Here, there were no guidelines from the CSD as to the meaning of the word, which is undefined in the Prison Rules.  When the representative visiting services conducted by the appellants first came to the attention of the CSD in August 2011, legal advice was sought by the CSD from the Department of Justice concerning that service and it was not until August 2012 that the appellants were arrested.[29]  There was evidence that CSD staff might differ over the meaning of the word.  It is therefore entirely possible that the appellants might have believed that they were “friends” of the prisoners awaiting trial whom they visited within the meaning of the Prison Rules and it does not follow, merely because they did not give evidence, that the prosecution case that they dishonestly misrepresented their status as friends must be accepted.

"Entirely possible", "might have believed", 呢啲係咪叫sheer speculation? 而且, 收費廉宜, 明目張膽, 就合情合理了? 咁收得貴又點?

56. ...The company’s services (described at [9] above) provided at a modest cost were entirely within the purposes for which visits to such prisoners are permitted under the Prison Rules.  Staff of the company openly distributed leaflets outside LCKRC and wore green shirts as a uniform to identify themselves as representatives of the company.  There was no clear consensus as to what the word “friend” in the Prison Rules meant.  In these circumstances, it is a matter of some surprise that the appellants were charged as they were.

荔枝角同一些監房我以前都去過, 若然他朝有日咁唔好彩我入咗去(in a different capacity), 旨意晒你哋, 念在一場網友, 唔好unfriend我。

喂標少, 外邊有班友嚟探你, 個個都叫匿名嘅話喺你啲friend喎, 係咪架? 梗係喇, 所有匿名都係friend, 捐錢嗰啲無名氏都係, 四海之內都係親戚......