HKSAR v. KAN TAK MAN

DCCC1057/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1057 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Defendant, in this case you have pleaded guilty to a total of eight charges: three of which - that is Charges 2, 3 and 8 - relate to theft; one of taking a conveyance without authority, that is Charge 1; one of possession of an ID card relating to another person, that is Charge 4; one of forgery, Charge 5; driving whilst disqualified, Charge 6; and using a motor vehicle without third party insurance, Charge 7.

2.  All of these offences took place between 19 and 31 July 2010 when you were arrested and all relate to three separate vehicles.

3.  It was upon your arrest that the offences, which form the subject matter of Charges 4, 5, 6 and 7, came to light and under caution you admitted that you had stolen vehicle registration number, KA 4509, the day before and placed a forged number plate, GA 9863, on the car.  You also admitted that the DVD player and amplifier found in the car had been stolen by you earlier from another vehicle.

4.  As far as Charge 1 is concerned, this was admitted by you in the course of a subsequent interview when you told the police that you saw an unattended LGV at Ting Kok Road with the keys left in the ignition.  You took the opportunity to drive this away for fun in the course of which you also stole a bag from the vehicle containing the cash and valuables that are mentioned in Charge 2.

5.  You, in my view, are no more and no less than a menace to society.  All of these offences are serious, but Charges 2, 3 and 8 are particularly nasty offences, as Charge 2 involves the theft of valuable personal property belonging to PW1 which has not been recovered.  As far as Charge 8 is concerned you caused damage to the car by smashing the driver’s window in order to gain entry and steal the DVD and amplifier, and as far as Charge 3 is concerned, you smashed the window in order to gain access to the car and drive it away.

6.  You have an appalling criminal record, some 20 previous convictions spanning a period of over 20 years, convictions which involve a variety of different offences, but notably theft, taking a conveyance without authority and dangerous driving for which you were imprisoned in November 2009 and disqualified for a total period of 18 months.

7.  In addition to this, I note that by committing the present offences you are in breach of a suspended sentence, which was imposed on you in February of this year for breach of a Community Service Order.

8.  In sentencing you, I take all that has been said into account on your behalf, but the main thrust of mitigation is your plea of guilty and I will give you the appropriate discount to reflect this.

9.  On Charge 1, I adopt a starting point of 9 months’ imprisonment but will reduce this by one-third to reflect your plea of guilty, coming to 6 months on Charge 1. 

10.  On Charge 2, I adopt 12 months as my starting point.  This will be reduced to 8 months to reflect your plea of guilty.  Due to the question of totality, I will order 4 months to run consecutively with Charge 1, the balance concurrent.

11.  On Charge 3, I adopt 12 months as my starting point, which will be reduced by one-third coming to 8 months’ imprisonment. This is ordered to run consecutively to the sentences on Charges 1 and 2.

12.  On Charge 4, the starting point is 12 months’ imprisonment, which is similarly reduced to 8 months, and once again, due to the question of totality, I order this to run concurrently with Charges 1 and 2.

13.  On Charge 5, I adopt a starting point of 9 months’ imprisonment, which I will reduce to 6 months to take account of your plea.  This is ordered to run consecutively to sentences on Charges 1 and 2.

14.  On Charge 6, my starting point is one of 6 months’ imprisonment, which due to your plea I reduce to 4 months’ imprisonment.  This is to run consecutively to Charges 1 and 2.  In addition, you are to be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of 18 months.

15.  On Charge 7, you will be sentenced to 2 months’ imprisonment.  This is to run concurrently with the sentence on Charge 6.  Additionally, you will also be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence, all classes of vehicles, for a period of 18 months.  The period of the disqualification is to run concurrently to that on Charge 6.

16.  With respect to Charge 8, I adopt a starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment.  This, I will reduce to 8 months to reflect your plea of guilty.  This is ordered to run consecutively to the sentences on Charges 1 and 2.

17.  The total sentences on all charges comes to 36 months’ imprisonment.  As I have said, you are in breach of the suspended sentence imposed on you in February of this year; accordingly, I activate that sentence of 6 months and order it to run consecutively to the sentence that I have passed on you, arriving at a total sentence of 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment in all.