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DCCC1088/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1088 OF 2010
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HKSAR |
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v. |
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Wong Tsz-kit (D1) |
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Chu San-chi (D2) |
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Before: |
H H Judge Longley |
Date: |
3 November 2010 at 2.52 pm |
Present: |
Ms Clara Ma, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Ms Kam Suk-yee, of S H Chan & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the 1st Defendant
Ms Chan Yee-man Ada, of S H Chan & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the 2nd Defendant |
Offence: |
(1) Burglary (入屋犯法罪)
(2) & (3) Remaining in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director of Immigration after having landed unlawfully in Hong Kong
(在香港非法入境後未得入境事務處處長授權而留在香港) |
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. Wong Tsz-kit and Chu San-chi, you have both been convicted on your own pleas of one count of burglary and one count of unlawfully remaining in Hong Kong.
2. You have admitted entering Hong Kong illegally by boat from Shenzhen. It appears that it was on the night of 6 to
7 August.
3. In the early hours of the morning of 10 August, you both gained entry to the ground floor of a three-storey village house in Yung Shue O Village. The ground floor was used by the owner as a store, while he let out the upper two floors. I was told that he had not visited the premises for two to three months.
4. Fortunately, on the night of the burglary, a neighbour was alerted to what you were doing by the sound of dogs barking. He called the police who came to the premises and arrested you. You had not stolen anything at that stage.
5. You claimed that you had simply entered the premises through an unlocked door in order to find something to eat. You also admitted that you had entered Hong Kong illegally.
6. Burglary is an offence that is viewed by the Hong Kong court as a serious offence, particularly if it occurs in premises where people live. In those circumstances, as your solicitor will have told you, the normal starting point adopted by the court is 3 years’ imprisonment.
7. In your case, nobody was living on the ground floor. Although it was a residential building, the ground floor was being used for storage purposes. In these circumstances, I am prepared to treat the burglary as a burglary in non-domestic premises.
8. Taking into account, firstly, that it does not appear you broke into the premises but simply entered through an unlocked door, secondly, the fact that nothing was stolen, and thirdly, there is nothing to contradict your assertion that you entered simply in order to find food, I am prepared to adopt a starting point on the burglary charge of 18 months’ imprisonment.
9. You are both young men of previous good character insofar as Hong Kong is concerned, and have pleaded guilty.
10. In those circumstances, you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third, and therefore, on the burglary charge (Charge 1) I am sentencing each of you to 12 months’ imprisonment.
11. The usual sentence for those who enter Hong Kong illegally and remain here is 15 months’ imprisonment after plea.
12. I find no reason to depart from that sentence in your cases.
13. I sentence each of you to 15 months’ imprisonment on the charge of unlawfully remaining. That sentence is to run consecutively to the sentence on the burglary charge.
14. So the total sentence imposed on each of you today is one of 27 months’ imprisonment; (2 years 3 months).
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P.K.M. Longley |
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District Court Judge |
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