HKSAR v. DINH CONG HOAI

HCMA1116/2007

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 1116 OF 2007

(ON APPEAL FROM KCCC 6618/2007)

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J U D G M E N T

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1. On 23 October last year, you were apprehended after a woman felt your hand in her pocket, stealing money, and raised the alarm.  You were apprehended.  You were charged with and pleaded guilty to an offence of theft. 

2. When the magistrate sentenced you, he quite rightly took into account the fact that you have an appalling criminal record with 14 previous convictions for theft or attempted theft out of a total of 20 convictions.  He rightly took into account the fact that this justified an increase in sentence and took a starting-point of 18 months' imprisonment from which he deducted one-third for your plea of guilty.  That sentence is unassailable. 

3. He then activated a suspended sentence of 6 months which had been imposed upon you only 7 months prior to the commission of this offence.  That seems to be, with respect, a peculiar sentence, in the circumstances, seeing as it was imposed 14 days after you had been committed to Drug Addiction Treatment Centre and the offence concerned was possession of dangerous drugs.  Be that as it may, the magistrate was correct in activating that sentence.  He would have been entirely justified in directing that the entire sentence be served consecutively to the sentence he was imposing upon you, but he decided not to do so and ordered that only 4 months of that sentence be served consecutively. 

4. Your appeal is devoid of any merit.  It is dismissed and the magistrate's orders are confirmed.