「An antecedent statement is an uncautioned statement taken from an accused by the police in order to enable them to inform the court of his antecedents for the purpose of sentence in the event of a guilty plea or a guilty verdict. It was rightly established by the Court of Appeal’s predecessor the Full Court in R v. Cheng Chung Yat [1970] HKLR 269 that it was impermissible for prosecuting counsel to cross-examine an accused on his antecedent statement.」