HKSAR v. CHOY WAI SHING

DCCC76/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 76 OF 2009

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Reasons for Sentence

1.  The defendant has been convicted on his pleas of three charges of theft: the 1st charge consisting of theft of a motorcycle on 9 November last year in Sham Shui Po; the 2nd charge, the theft of a vehicle licence plate, licence disc and helmet on 19 November last year; and the 3rd charge, the theft of another motorcycle during the period between 22 – 26 November 2008.

2.  On 26 November 2008, two police officers who were patrolling near Mongkok saw the defendant in a rear lane together with another man acting suspiciously.  On seeing the police officers, the defendant and his companion immediately left.  They were intercepted by the police offices, who found that they had left two screwdrivers, a torch and a paper cutter near a motorcycle parked in the rear lane.  A key had been inserted in the stolen motorcycle the subject of the 1st charge and some ignition wires on the rear part of the second stolen motorcycle the subject of the 3rd charge were found damaged.

3.  On inquiry, the defendant admitted that he had committed the offences in question, namely, that he had stolen the first motorcycle approximately two weeks previously, and then a week later, he had stolen a licence plate and a licence disc from another motorcycle, and had then stolen the second motorcycle in Hunghom just two days ago and driven it to the rear lane. 

4.  They were both arrested, and under caution, the defendant admitted that he had run out of money and he was taking away the motorcycles because he wanted to make some money from them.  Later, in a record of interview, the defendant admitted that he had stolen the first motorcycle from the street in Sham Shui Po, and a week later, he had stolen a licence plate and licence disc from another motorcycle, which he intended to put on the motorcycle which he had stolen earlier and then sell it.  He had stolen the second motorcycle from the street in Hunghom where it had been parked, by damaging the wires.

5.  The defendant is 40 years old and he has a record of no less than 42 previous convictions, 17 of which are theft or theft-related.  The defendant submitted in mitigation through his counsel that he committed the present offences in order to raise money, essentially in order to fund his drug habit, he being addicted to dangerous drugs.  While that may well be a very real need in the defendant’s mind, it is not in any way mitigating when it comes to imposing the appropriate sentence for these offences.

6.  Motorcycles are not only relatively valuable items of property in themselves, but their owners rely on them as their means of transport and of course it causes very great inconvenience when they are stolen.  I have adopted a starting point of 2 years’ imprisonment for the two charges of the theft of the motorcycles (the 1st and the 3rd charges) and 3 months’ imprisonment on the 2nd charge.

7.  In return for his plea of guilty and his co-operation, the defendant is entitled to the full one-third discount, which reduces the 2-year starting point to 16 months’ imprisonment, which is the sentence I impose on the 1st charge. 

8.  On the 2nd charge, the starting point of 3 months imprisonment is reduced to 2 months imprisonment after applying the one-third discount.  That is the sentence I impose, which I order to run consecutively to the sentence on the 1st charge.

9.  The sentence I impose on the 3rd charge is also 16 months’ imprisonment after applying the one-third discount, of which I order 12 months to be consecutive to the sentences imposed on the 1st and 2nd charges.  That makes a total of 30 months’ imprisonment on the three charges.