R. v. CHAN MING CHIU

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

1996, No. 91
(Criminal)

--------------------------

----------------------

J U D G M E N T

----------------------

Mayo, J.A. (giving the judgment of the Court):

1. The applicant seeks leave to appeal against the sentence imposed upon him for three section 19 wounding charges. His Honour Judge Lugar-Mawson sentenced the applicant to attend a Training Centre.

2. The applicant and three of his friends were at a restaurant in Tsuen Wan in the early hours of the morning of 1 June 1995. Another group of men were there. At the time of the offence the applicant was aged 17.

3. To put the matter shortly the applicant and his friends attacked the young men in the other group. They used their fists, feet, chairs, glasses, bottles and ash trays.

4. Fortunately none of the injuries sustained by the victims were permanent injuries. They were however quite serious and necessitated three of the men being detained in hospital for treatment. What was involved was mainly lacerations and bruising. Some of the lacerations required suturing.

5. The applicant was basically caught red handed as a police officer was also present in the restaurant and he summoned police assistance. The applicant made a confession statement and pleaded guilty at an early stage as did the other young men involved. They were all rightly given credit for this.

6. The other young men were sentenced to attend a Detention Centre. No doubt Lugar-Mawson DJ would have made a similar order in respect of the applicant. He was however prevented from doing so as the report which was obtained from the Detention Centre indicated that he was not medically fit for the centre.

7. In his written grounds of appeal the applicant simply states that he is aggrieved by the sentence which was imposed.

8. Before us he claimed not to be the master mind and that at the time of the offence he was under the influence of alcohol. None of this helps very much. The judge had before him a probation officer's report and a report from a training centre. The picture which emerges from these reports is that the applicant is seriously in need of supervision. After leaving school he has drifted from one job to another and is unduly influenced by undesirable associates.

9. It would appear that a spell at a training centre coupled with the supervision which is given after release is exactly what this young man requires.

10. The sentence imposed was the correct one and should not be interfered with. The application is therefore dismissed.