Starlets Will Not Testify in Edison Chen Case

A plan to ask four starlets involving in the Edison Chen Koon-hei sex photo scandal to testify in court has been abandoned after Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi broke her silence in an interview aired on television last week.

The decision to abandon the request for testimony came after Cheung - one of the four women identified in the scandal - addressed Edison Chen in an interview with i-Cable on February 27, where she questioned the sincerity of his remorse.

An application was to be heard before Chief Magistrate Tong Man next Monday to decide whether the four women could testify as defence witnesses in the trial of computer technician Sze Ho-chun, who allegedly played a role in leaking the photos.

Kelvin Lai, defending Sze, confirmed that the application was withdrawn on Thursday.

'After we came back from Canada, we reviewed [Edison Chen's] evidence and decided that it was no longer in line with our case to call the women,' he said yesterday.

He said another reason for the withdrawal was Cheung's interview.

'After I watched that, I thought the decision to withdraw was right.'

Following Cheung's interview, a second victim, Gillian Chung Yan-tung, also broke her silence on a television show on Thursday.

'We think Gillian's evidence may not be very significant to our case after we considered the matter,' Mr Lai said.

Sze's trial, where he faces three charges relating to dishonestly obtaining access to a computer, is scheduled to start on April 6.