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DCCC15/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 15 OF 2010
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| Date: |
8 February 2010 at 3.20 pm |
| Present: |
Ms Hermina Ng, PP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Kenneth Sit, of Messrs Kenneth Sit, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant |
| Offence: |
(1) Using a false instrument (使用虛假文書)
(2) to (5) Obtaining property by deception (以欺騙手段取得財產) |
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to five charges. The first one of using a false instrument, contrary to section 73 of the Crimes Ordinance, Cap.200, Laws of Hong Kong. The particulars being that on 2 November of last year you used at Marathon Sports in Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay, an AIG MasterCard which was and which you knew to be false, with the intention of inducing Marathon Sports to accept it as being genuine.
2. The 2nd to the 5th charge are all charges of obtaining property by deception, contrary to section 17(1) of the Theft Ordinance, Cap.210, Laws of Hong Kong and involve your use of the same MasterCard on 2 November 2009 in order to obtain goods.
3. The brief facts which you have agreed are quite straightforward and indicate that on the day in question you went into the Marathon Sports Shop and attempted to buy some sports shoes and a windbreaker with this forged card. But the salesman became suspicious of it and refused to accept it. You left the shop and were eventually intercepted by the police.
4. Later on in a record of interview you told the police that you had purchased the card from someone in a bar for $2,000 and you had used the card to purchase a wallet and a total of 23 washing balls being the subject matter of Charges 2 to 5. The amount involved in relation to Charges 2 to 5 is relatively small, coming to some $10,880.
5. I take into account all that has been said on your behalf by way of mitigation. I accept the fact that you were not part of any syndicate or large enterprise involved in the manufacture or use of forged credit cards. But any offence involving the use of forged credit cards is extremely serious as it damages Hong Kong’s good commercial reputation both here and overseas.
6. On each of the five charges, I take as my starting point a sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment. I will discount this by one-third to take account of your plea of guilty, coming to 2 years’ imprisonment, which due to the question of totality of sentence I will order to run concurrently with each other. The total sentence is 2 years’ imprisonment.
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H H Judge Geiser |
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District Judge |
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