HKSAR v. HO WAI CHEONG

DCCC808/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 808 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of theft, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance.

2.  You have admitted that between 19 June and 10 July 2012 you stole $689,052 being the property belonging to Conway Management Limited.

3.  You were employed by Conway Management Limited and were placed in a position of trust in respect of monies of that company.  Monies was given to you as they were money received from customers and you were responsible to deposit the money into the bank account of the company.  However, during that 3 week period, you did not deposit the money into the company bank account. You instead stole that money and used that money to gamble in Macau. 

4.  An accounting staff of the company kept pressing you to provide daily receipts however you told her you were busy and you could not provide any daily receipts or receipts of money paid into the bank.

5.  Eventually on 12 July you made a full confession to the company that you stole the money.  You told them you had used the money for gambling in Macau and had lost all the money in those gambling games.  In fact, the total money you received from customers that had paid the company was $879,052, but on 10 and 12 July you had deposited $208,000 back into the company account.  Therefore the balance of $689,052 was still in fact what you say you owed to the company. 

6.  You admitted and made a full confession under caution when you surrendered to the police on 13 July, accompanied by a lawyer.

7.  You are 40 years of age, married and with a daughter aged 16.

8.  You have 6 previous convictions, one of robbery when you were 17 years of age to which you were sentenced to probation in 1989, and 5 others related to gambling.  The last conviction was in 1995 17 years ago. 

9.  I have taken note of the letters that you, defendant, have written to me, your wife, your daughter and your present employer.  As I can see from the letters from your family, you are a good, caring husband and father.

10.  Your present employer, that is the employer that you have been working with after your arrest for this offence, says you are a very helpful, responsible and hardworking person.  That employer is willing to continue to employ you as their permanent staff. 

11.  You have told me in your letter the reasons why you committed this offence.  Your solicitor, Ms Leung, has also informed me of the reasons why.  Those reasons are that you faced a lot of pressure.  The pressure was from your work and the fact that your wife had some health problems.  There was darkness shown in an X-ray in her lung and she was told that she might not be able to work again.  You were worried about your daughter’s school performance as she might not be able to continue her education.

12.  Because of these problems you very unfortunately and sadly turned to gambling to release your pressure.  You first lost all your family’s savings, then you turned to steal your employer’s money to try and win back the money that you had lost from your family’s savings.

13.  Clearly, as I am sure you realize in view of your gambling experience that gambling is never a winning predicament, most of the time you lose.  I accept you are truly remorseful as you confessed to your employer, you surrendered yourself to the police and at the very first opportunity you have pleaded guilty. 

14.  This is offence is out of character.   What has happened as a result is your family is in great dilemma. They have lost the sole breadwinner of the family and the family savings.

15.  Although you have indicated to me and to the victim company , Conway Management Limited, you will endeavour to repay back in instalments, that has of course till this moment not been done, so I cannot take that into account.

16.  Defendant as Ms Leung has informed me, you have been told that there are tariffs laid down for cases of theft such as this, which is commonly referred to breach of trust cases.  The tariffs are laid down in the case of Cheung Mei Kiu CACC99/2006.  The brackets were corrected and adjusted slightly in Ng Kwok Wing CACC398/2007.   

17.  The amount you stole falls within the bracket of the amount between $250,000 and $1 million, which warrants a starting point of between 2 and 3 years’ imprisonment after trial.  In your case, you stole $689,052.  Taking into account the tariff had I convicted you after trial I would have taken a starting point of 2½ years’ imprisonment. 

18.  You have however pleaded guilty, shown your remorse and saved the court time.  In the circumstances, you are entitled to a one-third discount.  Your sentenced shall be reduced to a sentence of 1 year and 8 months’ imprisonment to which you are so sentenced.