HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION v. CHIU Kwan-fun

IN THE HIGH COURT OF

THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 692 OF 1997

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R E A S O N S  F O R  D E C I S I O N

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1. The Appellant in this case pleaded guilty to one count of remaining in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director of Immigration after having landed unlawfully in Hong Kong, and two counts of possession of an identity card relating to another person. She pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced by the learned Magistrate on 10 June this year. On the first count she was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment, and on the two subsequent counts she was sentenced to six months' imprisonment each. The terms were ordered to run concurrently.

2. Since her conviction and sentence, it had come to light that the native village where she was staying in Tong Guan area had approved her application for a single journey visa to Hong Kong. Based on the documents available before this court, she has to return to her native village to process the documents before the 30th of this month, failure of which the application would lapse.

3. The appeal is pursued on purely humanitarian grounds. The prosecution is not objecting to the documents to be received by the court as fresh evidence.

4. I find this to be an exceptional case and the appeal is allowed on humanitarian grounds, and this should not be treated as any form of guidelines for sentences of this nature because the sentences imposed by the learned Magistrate was beyond reproach.

5. For the reasons given, the sentences imposed by the learned magistrate are set aside and they are substituted with a prison sentence of one month on each count, and they are to be served concurrently.