HKSAR v. LIAO YUNRONG

HCMA181/2006

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO.181 OF 2006

(ON APPEAL FROM ESCC372 OF 2006)

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J U D G M E N T

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1. This is an appeal by the appellant against the sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment imposed upon him by Mr Candy sitting at Eastern Magistracy following his plea of guilty to the offence of possession of a forged identity card. 

2. The appellant, aged 24, a visitor from the Mainland, was stopped by a police officer shortly after midnight in the early hours of 23 January this year.  In the wallet he was carrying was a forged Hong Kong identity card bearing his name and photograph.  He claimed he had bought it in Shenzhen before he entered Hong Kong as a visitor.

3. The appellant’s written ground of appeal was simply that the sentence was too severe.  In court today he told me that his father needed money for an operation.  He wishes to support the education of his younger brother and he wishes to attend an examination in July this year in Guangsi.

4. The courts in Hong Kong regard the offence of possession of a forged identity card as a serious one.  It is particularly serious because the forged identity card can be used to enable the holder unlawfully to obtain employment in Hong Kong and this is a matter that has become prevalent in recent years. 

5. The Court of Appeal in the case of Li Chang Li, HCMA935/2004, has made it clear that save in exceptional circumstances 12 months’ is the normal sentence upon a plea of guilty to the offence of possessing a forged identity card.  It has also said that where the forged identity card is used to obtain employment, which is not the situation in this case, the normal sentence after plea should be 15 months’ imprisonment.  

6. The matters urged before me by the appellant do not fall into the category of exceptional circumstances.  I am satisfied that the sentence imposed by the magistrate was perfectly proper and I dismiss the appeal.