Legco to get trial papers
THE Legal Department will not send representatives to a Legislative Council meeting probing an aborted rape trial involving a handicapped woman.
Instead, the department will provide legislators with a copy of the trial transcript for today's meeting.
A department spokesman said it would be ''the best means to give the group members a full and accurate account of what actually happened in the court''.
The trial was halted by Mr Justice Woo when the 22-year-old woman, allegedly raped at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in May, became distressed during cross-examination.
She is deaf, dumb and slightly mentally handicapped, and her family asked for her to be spared a further ordeal.
But the decision provoked anger from women's groups and some legislators and prompted calls for the establishment of special courts to deal with cases involving handicapped people.
The Legal Department decided on Monday there would be no judicial review of the decision, but a spokesman said the Attorney-General, Jeremy Mathews, was concerned about the adequacy of legal protection for handicapped people.
Meeting Point legislator Fred Li Wah-ming, who heads the Legco working group, regretted the department's decision.
''We are not asking them to comment and we have no intention of discussing whether the judge is right or wrong,'' he said.
''What we want is a clearer understanding of the case.
''But our working group does not have the authority to summon government officials.''
