Acquittal with costs for a foreign domestic helper charged in an illegal dental practice case

Our client was acquitted at the Shatin Magistrates' Courts, with costs, after the magistrate ruled midway through the trial that she had no case to answer. She was released immediately.

She was one of six Filipina domestic workers arrested by the Immigration Department on suspicion of running an unlicensed dental clinic in a flat in Sham Shui Po, and was charged with aiding and abetting a breach of condition of stay.

Following our counsel's cross-examination of the Immigration Officer who oversaw the operation, the officer accepted that our client had been poorly treated during her detention. The lack of evidence and the apparent staging of the arrest left the prosecution with an untenable case.

As our counsel put it during the proceedings: “The prejudice is, if it is not clear in the Notice of Objection already, this was an illegal entry into a residential premises, illegal detention of individuals without basis”.

The magistrate took a similar view and urged the prosecution to reconsider its case. The prosecution then offered no further evidence against our client, and Magistrate Pang Leung-ting ruled that she had no case to answer.

The conduct of the operation

During the trial our defence team challenged a number of procedural irregularities in the arrest, which appeared to compromise our client's rights as a person under enquiry and in detention. The issues included:

• the raid was conducted without a search warrant;
• officers did not wear the departmental vests that would have identified them;
• defendants were questioned without an interpreter;
• defendants were handcuffed although there was no sign of resistance; and
• the defendant was photographed and filmed repeatedly for media purposes, being paraded in front of cameras.

The magistrate was critical of the Immigration Department's tactics, stating on the record:

“It seems like the officers, but I hate to say this, seems like they are staging and performance, to let the public know that they have arrested suspects [and that] we have a successful anti illegal work operation. We are actors, and we will arrest them, and go down again.”

By day four of the trial, Magistrate Pang remarked on the absence of proof regarding the core allegations. That included the lack of evidence that dentistry was being practised within the premises where the defendants were arrested, the absence of reasonable suspicion to justify the arrest and the entry into the premises, and the prosecution's failure to fulfil its duty of disclosure concerning its investigation report, together with undisclosed photographs and video taken during the operation.

As our counsel summarised it: “The fact that there was a performance... I am in the impression that we are here that the immigration can put on a show, and I say that this is grossly disproportionate.”

Counsel

We are grateful for the work of counsel, Mr Azan Marwah and Mr Nicklaus Pannu-Yuon, instructed by Ms Clara Chok of this firm.

Press coverage

Hong Kong Free Press, 5 August 2026: 2 domestic workers acquitted of illegal dentistry as Hong Kong authorities accused of ‘staging a show’ during arrests

The Witness, 6 August 2026: 6外傭被控無牌經營牙醫診所等 入境處執法拍片手法

The SUN Hong Kong: 2 Filipina DHs acquitted of illegal dentistry

Back to News & Guides