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HCCC 152/2016
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 152 OF 2016
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| Before: |
DHCJ Stuart-Moore |
| Date: |
19 July 2017 at 3.21 pm |
| Present: |
Mr Terrence Wai, on fiat, for HKSAR |
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Mr Y C Yeung, instructed by Chin & Associates, assigned by DLA, for the defendant |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: This case once again illustrates the dangers of drinking to excess and the trouble it can lead to when this happens. As you said to the police, you knew you should not do it but you were too drunk to stop yourself, and at another stage you told them: “I could not refrain from the impulse of making love to her”.
There was a very great deal of evidence, as the jury has found, that you took advantage of Miss X while she was incapable of giving her consent and, to some extent, you yourself were under the influence of alcohol. That to some extent also explains why you did it, but it is no excuse.
Very much to her credit, Miss X never tried to make the evidence stronger against you by exaggerating any aspect of the case against you. But for your part, by denying responsibility for this offence, you have made her relive that horrible incident in her life and she has had to wait almost two years to speak about it in court. She also had to live with the worry, for obvious reasons, that you had not worn any condom when you did this. She hardly knew you; she had only met you once before.
You have a previous conviction for violence but I am going to ignore it in the circumstances because it is of a completely different kind.
Mr Yeung will have advised you of the sentencing guidelines in Hong Kong for an offence of this kind. He is right to say that rape varies very considerably in its seriousness and this is not the sort of case which is reserved for the gravest kind of sentence.
Having said that, rape is always serious. As the only aggravating factor in this case is the absence of a condom, I propose only to augment the case for sentence rather by 6 months.
The sentence is one of 6½ years’ imprisonment.
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