HKSAR v. CHUNG LOI HING DANNY

DCCC 99/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 99 OF 2013

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Chung Loi-hing, you have been convicted on your own pleas of four offences of burglary.   The burglaries were committed on two separate occasions late at night in commercial premises in Tsim Sha Tsui, namely on 4 January 2012 and 19 November 2012.

2.  On the second of these occasions, that is 19 November 2012, when you committed the three burglaries that are the subject of Charges 3, 4, and 5  the police had previously noticed you acting suspiciously and set up an ambush outside the premises that you were burgling.   The three premises which were all clothing shops were on the 1st floor of buildings in Granville Road linked by a platform.   You used a drainpipe to climb up to the 1st floor and then, using a screwdriver that you had with you, you prised open the windows of these three premises and entered and stole what cash you could find inside. The approximate amounts of the cash you stole appear in the charges, namely HK$8,900, HK$5,500, and HK$2,000.   In other words, a total of about HK$16,400.   The police were waiting for you as you climbed down the drainpipe.   Fortunately, therefore, the money that you stole during those burglaries has been recovered.  

3.  You admitted to the police that you had just committed these three burglaries, and you claimed you had done that because you were unemployed and had a nine month old son. 

4.  You also admitted that you had committed the burglary which is the subject of the second charge, that was at a hair salon. In the course of that burglary you stole about HK$350.   Again, the premises which you broke into were on the 1st floor of a building, and you had gained access by using a drainpipe.  

5.  As I am sure you are aware, bearing in mind your past history, the normal starting point for those who commit burglaries in non-domestic premises is 2½ years’ imprisonment, providing that the offender is a first offender.

6.  You are not a first offender.  You have a long history of previous offences, including 15 previous offences of burglary for which you have been sentenced to a number of terms of imprisonment.   The last occasion you were sent to prison for burglary was in 2008.   It is tragic that having re-married in 2011 and your wife having given birth to a son in January 2012, you should go back to your old ways and commit these burglaries.  

7.  I am satisfied that the appropriate starting point for these burglaries is 3 years’ imprisonment.  Insofar as the burglary that is the subject of the 2nd charge is concerned, I take into account the fact that the police would not have known of your involvement in it unless you had told them so, and in respect of that charge I discount the starting point by 6 months. 

8.  There is very little else that can be said in mitigation.   These clearly were premeditated offences, you had gone out that night with housebreaking implements.   The only significant mitigation, of course, are your pleas of guilty, and for that you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third. That results in a sentence of 20 months’ imprisonment on Charge 2, and 24 months’ imprisonment on Charges, 3, 4, and 5.  

9.  I have considered the appropriate total sentence for these four offences of burglary.   If you had not pleaded guilty, I would have regarded 4½ years’ imprisonment to be the appropriate overall starting point, taking into account the fact that the burglaries in Charges 3, 4, and 5 were all committed one after the other, and the fact that you revealed your involvement in the burglary that is the subject of Charge 2. Taking into account your pleas, I am satisfied that the overall sentence should be one of 36 months’ imprisonment.  I am accordingly passing sentence as follows, and I am doing it in reverse order. 

10.  On Charge 5 I sentence you to 24 months’ imprisonment. 

11.  On Charge 4 I sentence you to 24 months’ imprisonment, 4 months of which are to run consecutively to the sentence on Charge 5. 

12.  On Charge 3 I sentence you to 24 months’ imprisonment, 4 months of which are to run consecutively to the sentences on Charges 4 and 5. 

13.  On Charge 2 I sentence you to 20 months’ imprisonment, 4 months of which are to run consecutively to the sentences on Charges 3, 4, and 5.

14.  That means you are sentenced to a total of 3 years’ imprisonment.   You have offered to pay compensation to the victim of the burglary in the 2nd charge, and I accordingly order that you pay compensation of HK$350 to the victim of the 2nd charge.