HKSAR v. LAM HOI WENG

DCCC413/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 413 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  The defendant pleaded guilty to two charges, one of using a false instrument and one of possession of false instruments.

2.  Both offences were committed on 26 February 2011 and both offences concerned the use of forged credit cards, a total of three forged credit cards. 

3.  At 3.55 pm on 26 February 2011, the defendant went into Sa Sa Cosmetics in Tsim Sha Tsui Centre, Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. He purchased cosmetics valued at $8,440.50 using a Capital One Orbitz Visa Card in his own name.  One of the staff was suspicious and contacted the police.

4.  The transaction was completed and the defendant left the shop and was stopped outside by the police in the shopping centre.  He was searched and found to be in possession of three forged credit cards all in his own name. 

5.  Under caution he stated that he had used the credit cards to make money because he was jobless at that time.  He said a man called ‘Ah Cheong’ knew that he was jobless and told him to buy things using false bankcards for a reward of $1,000.

6.  He was told to collect the three credit cards from a water tank in the first cubicle of a public toilet in the basement of the Houston Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui.  He collected the credit cards and then went to Sa Sa to use one of them and was arrested outside.

7.  The defendant has two previous convictions in 2005 for exposing for sale goods to which a forged trademark had been applied. He was placed on probation for 15 months.  In 2008, for possession of dangerous drugs he was sent to prison for 2 months but that was suspended for a period of 3 years.  He is in breach of that suspended sentence. 

8.  The defendant is 26 years of age, he was born in Macau and he came to Hong Kong when he was approximately 3 years of age.  He was educated to Form 4 standard and has worked previously as a Dim Sum cook and as a transportation worker.  As a transportation worker he could earn up to $10,000 per month but the work was sporadic.

9.  He comes from a decent working class family, his father is a hawker and his mother is a housewife.  He has a younger brother and sister who are students.  I am told that at the time of the offence he was experiencing financial hardship because work was sparse.  

10.  The Court of Appeal said some time ago in the case of R v. Kwan Hung  Ho in 1992, that credit card frauds have in recent years been an insidious poison in the community.  It affects a large number of citizens, it erodes the credit card system and damages Hong Kong’s standing in the international community.  The situation has got far worse since 1992. 

11.  I have noted the authorities cited to me, particularly the case of R v Chan Sui To and Another [1996] 2HKCLR 128, and few of the aggravating features referred to in that case are present in the current case.  As offences of this kind go, this case is at the lower end of the scale.  

12.  I therefore propose to adopt a starting point of 3 years’ imprisonment and reduce that to 2 years to reflect the guilty plea.  I impose that sentence for each of the offences, the sentences to run concurrently.

13.  The offences constitute a breach of the suspended sentence imposed by the court in 2008.  In certain circumstances I do have a discretion not to activate that sentence, but none of those circumstances are present today.

14.  The sentence will therefore be activated and you will go to prison for 2 years and 2 months.