HKSAR v. CHAN YAT HANG AND OTHERS

HCCC 411/2023

[2026] HKCFI 3573

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 411 OF 2023

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REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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The Charge

1.  A total of 6 defendants were arrested and charged in this case in relation to five incidents, with four of them pleading guilty, and two not guilty, to their respective charges.  On 4 December 2023, the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th defendants pleaded guilty in the magistracy to most of the charges that they faced and they admitted a Summary of Facts dated 13 September 2023 in respect of those charges.  They were committed to the Court of First Instance for sentencing on those charges in HCCC 411/2023.  The two defendants who pleaded not guilty (“the other two defendants”)  were committed to the Court of First Instance for trial in HCCC410/2023. 

2.  On 5 November 2025, the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th defendants confirmed their guilty pleas before this Court and were sentenced to imprisonment for 9 years and 6 months, 5 years and 8 months and 1 year and 10 months respectively.  As the 3^rd defendant had indicated his willingness to testify for the Prosecution, his sentencing was adjourned until the end of the trial of the other two defendants in HCCC410/2023.

3.  Between 6 and 28 May 2026, a trial of the other two defendants in HCCC 410/2023 was held during which the 3^rd defendant gave evidence for the Prosecution.  The other two defendants in HCCC 410/2023 were convicted after trial and their sentencing was eventually adjourned to be heard together with the sentencing hearing for the 3^rd defendant before this Court today.

4.  Today, before this Court, the 3^rd defendant confirmed his guilty pleas to the 4^th and 8^th charges of attempted robbery, the 5^th and 6^th charges of criminal intimidation and the 9^th charge of robbery and he also confirmed his admission of the Summary of Facts dated 13 September 2023 in respect of those charges.  

Facts Admitted

5.  The facts of the charges against the 3^rd defendant can be summarized as follows.

Incident 3

6.  On 21 November 2020 at around mid-night, X (a female victim)  was lured by an acquaintance to get into a taxi with a female[1] to go to a rural area in Yuen Long.  Upon arrival, a total of five males (including the 3^rd defendant)  confronted her.  Amongst them, a male known as “Chi Man Gor” (“the Male”)  falsely accused her of having caused his boss to lose money in investments and demanded her to pay compensation of $50,000.  X was slapped in the face, pushed onto the ground and stepped on her back at the scene.  The Male demanded X to call her friends to borrow money and she did but to no avail and so she could not pay up: the 4^th charge of attempted robbery against the 3^rd defendant.  X was also threatened with injuries to her person and the Male forced her to eat some grass there: the 5^th charge of criminal intimidation against the 3^rd defendant.

7.  Later, the Male forced X to undress herself to become totally naked and to masturbate herself.  The Male took a video of that while the other males were lighting up the area with their phones for the video taking.  X did so as she was afraid of being beaten up: the 6^th charge of criminal intimidation against the 3^rd defendant.

Incident 4

8.  Shortly later, an unknown male victim was brought to the scene and X saw the Male scolding and assaulting him.  The Male kept asking the male victim to borrow money from his friends and relatives to pay them but he failed to do so: the 8^th charge of attempted robbery against the 3^rd defendant. 

9.  Later, X was allowed to leave the scene in a taxi and she reported the case to the police.

10.  During the incident, X did not sustain any obvious injuries.

Incident 5

11.  On 22 November 2020, a male victim was lured by a female[2] to get into a taxi with her to go to a rural area in Yuen Long.  Upon arrival, the victim was assaulted by five males (including the 3^rd defendant)  who punched and kicked him for about 5 minutes.  He was also beaten with a wooden stick.  One of the males alleged that the female had owed them money and that the victim being her boyfriend should repay for her.  They took his five bank/credit cards and his mobile phone (valued at $3,500)  and he was forced to disclose the password of one of the bank cards (cash $2,900 was later withdrawn from his bank account): the 9^th charge of robbery against the 3^rd defendant.

12.  The victim was also demanded to call his wife for money or else he would not be allowed to leave. He called his wife and she transferred a sum of $35,000 to an account held by the one of the males present at the scene: the 9^th charge of robbery against the 3^rd defendant. 

13.  During the incident, a male asked the victim to take off his clothes and photographs were taken of him naked.  The victim was later escorted into a taxi and was dropped off somewhere in Pat Sin Leng where he was permitted to leave.

14.  It was later discovered that 6 unauthorized transactions had been conducted with the use of the victim’s credit cards in the total sum of $24,983.22.

15.  During the incident, the victim sustained bruising over his vertex and left occipital scalp, left cheek, lateral aspect of left eyebrow, right scapular region at the back, right lower quadrant of abdominal wall and left arm; mild tenderness over his left face and back of neck; abrasions over back and right chest wall.  He was granted sick leave for 5 days.

Arrest of the 3^rd defendant

16.  The 3^rd defendant was arrested on 25 November 2020.  Under caution, he admitted that he was responsible in the 5^th incident for withdrawing money from the victim’s bank account with his bank card.  He was offered $1,000 for the task. 

17.  In subsequent cautioned video recorded interviews, the 3^rd defendant made some admissions about his involvement in the offences.

18.  In the Summary of Facts, the 3^rd defendant admitted that at the material times of Incidents 3 and 4, he together with others had attempted to rob X and the unknown male; and that he together with others had threatened X with injury to her person, with intent to cause X to do acts which she was not legally bound to do, namely to eat grass, to take off her clothes and perform masturbation. 

Background and mitigation

19.  The 3^rd defendant is now 27 years old and single.  He completed his secondary education up to Form 6.  His father (aged 69)  is retired and his mother (aged 58)  works as a beautician.  The 3^rd defendant is the only son from his parents’ marriage.  The 3^rd defendant used to contribute $10,000 to his parents each month.

20.  Prior to the offences, the 3^rd defendant had worked as a lifeguard.  During the COVID pandemic, his income decreased and that prompted him to take on casual work as a swimming coach and he was later recruited to collect gambling debts.  The Court was told that in a moment of poor judgment, he committed these offences.

21.  Three mitigation letters were submitted to the Court, written by the 3^rd defendant and his parents respectively.  The 3^rd defendant expressed his remorse for the offences whereas his parents pleaded for leniency in sentencing.

22.  The 3^rd defendant has a clear record.

23.  Counsel acting for the 3^rd defendant, Ms Lai, invited the Court to give him a 50% discount on account of his guilty pleas and his giving evidence for the Prosecution in the trial in HCCC 410/2023 which resulted in the conviction of the other two defendants.

Sentence

24.  The 3^rd defendant has been convicted of a total of 5 offences involved in 3 incidents.  In those incidents, the victims were lured to remote places in the Yuen Long where they were assaulted, abused and robbed or subjected to attempted robbery.  Violence and ill-treatment were exerted on the victims by the group of males at the scene and the 3^rd defendant was amongst the group.  There were clearly aggravating factors in the robbery or attempted robbery in each of the incidents: see R v Mo Kwong-sang [1981] HKLR 610.  It is also obvious that there was a criminal syndicate involved in the incidents when the same modus operandi was used to rob and intimidate innocent victims.

25.  The 3^rd defendant took part in the robbery or attempted robbery in each of the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th incidents; and he also took part in the two counts of criminal intimidation on the female victim X in the 3^rd incident.  In my assessment, whilst the 3^rd defendant was not the mastermind, he certainly took part in the offences which were quite serious indeed. 

26.  Given such serious and multiple offences committed by the 3^rd defendant, his personal background or clear record does not have any weight in mitigation.  The only effective mitigating factors in his favour are his timely pleas and his assistance to the Prosecution.  Having observed his testimony in the trial in HCCC 410/2023, I am satisfied that the 3^rd defendant had tried his best to give honest and truthful evidence against the other two defendants.  I will accede to the invitation by his counsel to give him a discount of 50%.

27.  Having considered the authorities supplied by the parties, I shall use the following starting points for the 5 charges against the 3^rd defendant, to be discounted by 50% and arriving at the following sentences:

4th charge	9 years’ imprisonment reduced to 4 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
5th charge	3 years’ imprisonment reduced to 1 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
6th charge	5 years’ imprisonment reduced to 2 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
8th charge	9 years’ imprisonment reduced to 4 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
9th charge	8 years’ imprisonment reduced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

28.  Applying the totality principle, I take the view that the overall discounted sentence to be imposed on the 3^rd defendant should be 7 years’ imprisonment.  To achieve that, I make the following orders: 3 months of the sentence for the 5^th charge to run consecutively with that for the 4^th charge; 3 months of the sentence for the 6^th charge to run consecutively with that for the 4^th charge; one year of the sentence for the 8^th charge to run consecutively with that for the 4^th charge; and one year of the sentence for the 9^th charge to run consecutively with that for the 4^th Charge.  Subject to these orders, the sentences are otherwise to run concurrently.  In arriving at the overall sentence, I have taken into account his role in the offences.  The 3^rd defendant is thus sentenced to an overall sentence of 7 years’ imprisonment.