HKSAR v. LIYANAGE RENUKA PADMINI PERERA

HCMA424/2002

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO.424 OF 2002

(ON APPEAL FROM TMCC 757 OF 2002)

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J U D G M E N T

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1. This is an appeal against sentence only. The appellant was convicted on her own plea of an offence of using an identity card relating to another person, contrary to section 7A(1)(a) of the Registration of Persons Ordinance, Cap.177, in respect of which she was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment (being the first charged offence) and of breaching a condition of her stay in Hong Kong by overstaying for a period of eight months, contrary to section 41 of the Immigration Ordinance, Cap.115, in respect of which she was sentenced to three months' imprisonment (being the second charged offence). Both those sentences were to be served concurrently, resulting in a totality of 15 months' imprisonment.

2. The facts of the case were that the appellant had entered Hong Kong as a visitor and had been allowed to stay up to June 2001. She overstayed in Hong Kong until 15 March 2002 when she was found working by police at a home for the elderly. She had obtained the job there by producing to the proprietor of the home a Hong Kong identity card relating to another person.

3. The magistrate, in sentencing, relied upon the principles of HKSAR v. Chan Man Mo, HCMA 1059/1999, and arrived at the level of sentence that he did. Those sentences cannot be criticized. They are completely proper.

4. The appellant before me effectively seeks a further discount of sentence and an early release from prison, for humanitarian reasons. The reason which she advances is that her mother presently is ill in Sri Lanka and is being treated for cancer there. She produces to me a letter apparently under the hand of the treating doctor to the effect that her mother's condition is serious.

5. It is a frequent occurrence in the courts of Hong Kong that persons from overseas sentenced to terms of imprisonment by our courts seek early release on the basis of humanitarian grounds. It has been said repeatedly that for there to be any discount of sentence, and therefore early release of an offender, the basis for that early release must be in the nature of exceptional humanitarian considerations.

6. In my opinion, even accepting the illness of the appellant's mother, the illness of a near relative, even a serious illness, is not, without more, such a strong or compelling humanitarian ground so as to warrant the early release of the appellant, and accordingly this appeal is dismissed.