|
DCCC 707/2012
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 707 OF 2012
-------------------------------
| |
HKSAR |
|
| |
V. |
|
| |
MATRIANO JONATHAN D |
|
-------------------------------
| Date:
6 November 2012 at 10:20 am
|
| Present:
|
Miss Janice CHEUK, Public Prosecutor, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
|
|
|
Mr CHIU P.T. Charles, instructed by M/s Lam & Co assignedby DLA for Defendant
|
--------------------------
Reasons for Sentence
--------------------------
Charge and facts
1. The defendant is convicted after trial of the burglary of a restaurant, Sumac, in Central. The proprietor had locked up Sumac after business but returned a few hours later only to find signs of ransacking and the loss of a cash register with $2,500 cash in it. A fingerprint of the defendant was found on a knife in the kitchen. He last worked there 7 months ago for a week. The lost property could not be recovered.
2. The defendant was arrested for burglary almost a year after when he applied for a liquor licence. Under caution, he remained silent.
Personal background and mitigation
3. He is now aged 39. He was born in the Philippines. He attained high school level. He has a family in Hong Kong, comprising his wife and 3 children aged between 5 and 16. He has been a cook since he arrived in Hong Kong. He has 1 conviction for theft in 2003.
Sentencing guidelines
4. In R v Wong Man [1993] 1 HKC 80, the Court of Appeal suggested 2 ½ years as the starting point for non-domestic premises for a first offender of full age, as later affirmed in HKSAR v Sim Ka-wing, CACC 450/2000.
Sentencing this defendant
5. I take 2 ½ years as the starting point. In the absence of any mitigating factors, this is his sentence.
|