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DCCC741/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 741 OF 2010
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Before:
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H H Judge S D’Almada Remedios
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Date:
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13 September 2010 at 11.04 am
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Present:
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Mr William Siu, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Godwin Chan Kwong-hung, of Godwin Chan & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant
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Offence:
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(1) Using a false instrument (使用虛假文書)
(2) Possession of false instruments (管有虛假文書)
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to two charges before me.
2. The 1st charge is using a false instrument, contrary to section 73 of the Crimes Ordinance, in that you admit that on 7 May 2010 you used a forged credit card, namely one Hbc MasterCard in the name of yourself, that is Chan Wang-kwong, and in the 2nd charge you have pleaded guilty to possession of false instruments, contrary to section 75(1) of the Crimes Ordinance, in that you admit that on the same day you had in your custody or control three forged credit cards, which you knew or believed to be false, in your name of Chan Wang-kwong.
3. On 7 May at about 6.15 pm, you went to a shop called Shinjuku situated in Mongkok. You purchased a Gucci belt at the price of $2,380 using the forged Hbc MasterCard referred to in Charge 1. The saleslady suspected the card to be false and made a report to the security company, which caused the case to be reported to the police.
4. You attempted to leave the shop prior to the arrival of the police, but you were stopped by the saleslady and she accused you of using a forged credit card. You presented to the saleslady the three forged cards in Charge 2 from your wallet and asked her to give you a chance.
5. Upon the police’s arrival, you were arrested and cautioned by the officer. You admitted that a male named Ah Chiu approached you and asked if you were willing to take up a job as a buyer who would use the forged credit cards for shopping. You agreed, and Ah Chiu then gave you the four forged credit cards.
6. Mr Godwin Chan, your solicitor, has mitigated on your behalf and I have taken into account all that he has had to say.
7. You are 17 years of age and have five previous convictions, of which none of them are similar. They are for offering or selling infringing copyright discs for the first two convictions, to which you were sentenced to probation for 18 months, and after that 100 hours of community service. That was in 2008, on the same date, it appears.
8. Then on 27 October 2008, you were convicted of two charges of theft, to which you were sentenced to rehabilitation centre, and as a result of the breach of probation of your first offence of selling copyright discs, you were sentenced to rehabilitation centre.
9. Then again on 5 November, another charge of theft, to which you were sentenced to rehabilitation centre concurrent with the other charge of theft.
10. Prior to sentencing you, I called for a Training Centre report and a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre report.
11. As you are a drug dependent, the medical officer is of the opinion that you are not suitable for detention in a Training Centre. As for the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre, the medical officer is of the opinion that you are a drug dependent, and that you are considered suitable for admission to a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.
12. Mr Chan accepts that you are drug dependent and as you are suitable for admission, he says that, on your behalf, you accept the recommendation to be sent to DATC.
13. I am informed that you committed these offences as you were unemployed and facing financial difficulties and therefore you were led by Ah Chiu to commit these offences. Your unemployment has been since 2008, although on some occasions, you worked part-time.
14. Mr Chan informs me that your unemployment is principally as a result of your suffering from a skin disease, which is psoriasis, and for that reason, a result of your odd appearance, you feel that employers are not willing to employ you. You are, however, getting treatment for your psoriasis, but that is not assisting you.
15. Mr Chan rightly says that the cases the court should take heed to and the factors to which the court consider when sentencing you or defendants for credit card forgeries are that of R v Chan Sui To and Tu I Lang.
16. In this case, there is no suggestion at all there was international dimension. You were the person who would use the credit card and purchase the goods. You were not playing a major role in the planning.
17. This does not appear to be an elaborate operation, but a small-scale operation. The amount involved is relatively low in that the goods you had attempted to purchase was $2,380.
18. Furthermore, in respect of the three further forged credit cards, these were of very low quality, including the one that you had used. There were many obvious mistakes on the card, such as misspellings of certain words, and at first glance even the shopkeeper who was going to sell you the Gucci belt was able to see immediately that this was a forged card.
19. Mr Chan has asked me to take these matters into account when sentencing you.
20. It is clear from the cases that even for small-scale credit card forgeries where one, or in this case, four cards were used, a sentence of approximately 2 to 3 years’ imprisonment is appropriate.
21. In this case, you had one card which you used and three cards in your possession. The starting point, in my view, on these two charges, in totality would be 3 years’ imprisonment, but given your plea of guilty, that term would be reduced to one of 2 years’ imprisonment.
22. However, you are a very young man, 17 years of age. The court should consider any other sentences which are appropriate other than a sentence of imprisonment.
23. I note that since about 3 years ago you have been involved in various offences, and for each offence your sentence has been more and more severe.
24. I am very aware that this is not your first brush with the law, but given your young age, I must consider both a rehabilitative sentence and a punitive sentence.
25. You have been remanded in custody since the date of commission of this offence, that is 7 May 2010. Today’s date is now 13 September. That is approximately 4 months to today you have been remanded in custody.
26. The court is of the mind that in view of your very young age, a rehabilitative sentence is the more appropriate one to be imposed upon you.
27. In view of your drug dependency, I therefore consider a term of drug addiction treatment, coupled with a term of statutory supervision would be beneficial to you in the circumstances.
28. You are sentenced to the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre on each charge for both offences, and those should run concurrent to each other.
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(S D’Almada Remedios) |
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District Judge |
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