HKSAR v. BARBOSA NUNEZ CRISTIAN

DCCC 827/2018

[2019] HKDC 555

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 827 OF 2018

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REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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1.  The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of “Burglary”.

Facts of the case

2.  The premises concerned in this case is the victim’s residence, located at 3/F, 1-3 Swatow Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

3.  At around 6:45 am on 3 July 2018, the victim left home for work.  When he returned home at around 7:26 pm, he found prised damage on the door of the balcony, and his properties including one Apple Macbook computer, one tablet computer, one laptop computer, one iPhone, one speaker, one USB CD/DVD player, three headphones, two portable chargers, one card holder, US$1,000 cash, HK$200 cash, one ATM card, four credit cards, two driver’s licences, and one brown paper bag with a white sticker with victim’s name on it went missing.  The total value of the stolen properties amounted to HK$39,500.

4.  CCTV footages captured that in the afternoon on the material day, the defendant went up the staircase of the building and later went down carrying a brown paper bag which he was not seen carrying before, and he was also removing a glove from his right hand.

5.  On 13 July 2018, the defendant was intercepted by the police, and took them to his residence, where a house search was conducted.  As a result, some of the stolen properties, including one DVD player, two chargers, one brown paper bag and one iPhone were found and seized.

Mitigation

6.  The defendant, aged 37, was born in Mexico.  He is single.  He received secondary education in Mexico, and was unemployed at the time of his arrest.  Prior to the present case, he had 15 previous criminal records involving 20 charges, 1 of which was burglary and 9 were theft.

7.  In mitigation, Ms Chow fairly conceded that no mitigating factors apart from the defendant’s guilty plea exist in this case.  She only stressed that there are at the same time no aggravating factors, and asked the court to show leniency towards the defendant.

Sentence

8.  The Court of Appeal has laid down clear sentencing guidelines for burglary involving domestic premises.  According to the guidelines, the starting point for a single burglary of domestic premises is 3 years’ imprisonment.

9.  The premises concerned in this case is a domestic one.  Accordingly, without any aggravating factors, the appropriate starting point is 3 years’ imprisonment.

10.  The defendant indicated on plea day that he would plead guilty to the charge, and is therefore entitled to a full one-third discount on his sentence. It is thus reduced to 2 years.

11.  There being no other mitigating factors, the defendant is sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment.