HKSAR v. LIN, XIAOCHI

HCMA291/2006

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 291 OF 2006

(ON APPEAL FROM ESCC 778 OF 2006)

_______________

_______________

_______________

J U D G M E N T

_______________

1. This is an appeal against sentence.  The Appellant was sent to prison for 18 months for using a forged identity card and 2 months concurrently for the breach of a condition of stay.

2. He was seen working as a cook.  He was arrested and the employer produced a photocopy made of the identity card he had produced in order to get the job.  The Appellant was interviewed under caution and admitted that he had purchased it in Shenzhen for $2,000.  Those facts were incorporated in the brief facts which he admitted when he pleaded guilty before the magistrate.

3. 15 months is the starting point for using an identity card to get a job.  The magistrate increased that, modestly in my view, to only 18 months in view of the fact that on four previous occasions the Appellant has been in Hong Kong unlawfully committing similar crimes.

4. Today the Appellant says that in fact he is an innocent man and that he never possessed a false identity card at all; that he only said he did to the police because they invited him to say so and told him it was a trivial matter attracting a sentence of only 3 or 4 months’ imprisonment; that despite having the services of a duty lawyer he pleaded guilty and admitted the facts because it was trivial. 

5. The sentence is a perfectly proper one.  15 months is for a first offender.  This defendant is a persistent offender.  As regards his claim now that he is an innocent man, I do not believe him.  There is nothing that would make me take any step towards setting aside the perfectly straightforward plea of guilty that he tendered.

6. Accordingly, the appeal against sentence is dismissed.