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| The High Court, where the Court of First Instance holds it proceedings |
A Filipino overstayer jailed for three years for 12 counts of burglary and one of theft, has failed to convince the High Court to allow him to apply for a judicial review of earlier decisions rejecting his application for asylum in Hong Kong.
Jefrey M. Quiatchon, who was convicted last Nov. 10 at the
District Court for entering and taking various gadgets, cash and three letters from
12 restaurants in Mongkok and Sham Shui Po in July last year, arrived in Hong Kong
as a tourist on June 14, 2018 and did not leave as required two weeks later.
Quiatchon, 37 years old, surrendered to the Immigration Department
on July 3, 2018 and subsequently sought non-refoulement, claiming that he would be killed if sent back to the Philippines because he witnessed the murder
of two persons in Bacolod City in 2017 and assisted police in the investigation,
for which he received death threats.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
In its ruling, the Court of First Instance said that the Director
of Immigration and the Torture Claims Appeal Board found “no substantial
grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being harmed or killed by
those murderers” and that he could get state and police protection, being a
witness to a crime.
Since “the risk of harm in his claim if real is a localized
one and that it is not unreasonable or unsafe for him to relocate to other part
of the Philippines, there is simply no justification to afford him with
non-refoulement protection in Hong Kong,” the CFI added in a decision ordered by
Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan and signed last Aug. 27 by Christine Chung
for the High Court Registrar.
“… having considered the decisions of both the Director and
the Board with rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny, I do not find any
error of law or procedural unfairness in either of them, nor any failure on
their part to apply high standards of fairness in their consideration and
assessment of the Applicant’s claim,”it added.
It also noted that Quiatchon did not give “any proper ground
for his intended challenge” so “… I do not find any reasonably arguable basis
for his intended challenge or any merits in his intended application either.”
At present, Quiatchon is serving a three-year jail term for
entering and taking various gadgets and cash from 12 restaurants in Mongkok and
Sham Shui Po, and a separate charge of taking letters addressed to three
individuals, to which he pleaded guilty.
(See story on the District Court ruling on Quiatchon’s
burglary case by tapping here: https://www.sunwebhk.com/2023/11/asylum-seeker-jailed-36-months-for.html)
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| Pindutin dito para sa iba pang mga detalye |
