HKSAR v. TCHENG WING YAN

DCCC139/2011 & 193/2011
(Consolidated)

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NOS. 139 OF 2011 AND 193 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  I convicted this defendant of one offence of conspiracy to use a false instrument. She was convicted together with 7th and 8th accused in this case.

2.  The defendant was involved indictment that containing in number of accounts and number of defendants, and the indictment itself concern six personal loan applications and six different applicants.  The defendant was one of the applicants.  They were some defendants, who were common to almost all the applications, it can be fairly described as the mastermind they were 7th and 8th defendants.  And the defendant was involved in her charge with both 7th and 8th defendants.

3.  The modus operandi of the offence was the application for loans were using false address, proven of income proof documents on the loan application, and those false documents were supplied by the 7th and 8th defendants.

4.  This defendant as I said was the only involving one of the offence and narrow basis conspiracy involving an application, which was successful for $20,000 from Citibank.

5.  The offence occurred in March 2008, the driver of the offence was the 1st defendant’s boyfriend and he was in debts and he was asking her if she could borrow money for him.  He was able to introduce her, the 7th and 8th defendants and they obtained her personal particulars.  They met her again on April 2008 and she was asked to bring a bank passbook along. 

6.  At that meeting the 7th and 8th defendants gave her the false payslips of a company called Monica Boutique, and asked her to make the application for the loan of $20,000.  She was also given payslips for SmarTone Mobile Communications to support a loan application.  Eventually a loan of $18,000 was obtained. 

7.  The 1st defendant admitted all of these, when he was choose question.  Most recently indicated that she would assist the prosecution by given evidence.  The defendant is of clear record.  I already sentenced the other defendants in this case.   The mastermind 7th and 8th defendants received sentences imprisonment -- immediate sentences of imprisonment. 

8.  The individual who were involved in the individual loan applications and received suspended sentences of imprisonment.  Certainly, defendants who had a clear record, I would have considered for them in a Community Service Order.  But for various personal reasons precarious to those defendants is not possible to made such an order.

9.  This defendant is of clear record and is a young person in the sentence, she is only 23 years old, so it was incumbent on me, I consider to assess her ability to perform a Community Service Order, as an alternative to imposing either a suspended order or immediate sentence of imprisonment for her.

10.  The defendant had on the face of it it has very compiling mitigation.  She was a person of clear record, young, being employment, from a solid family background.  She was introduces to this offence by a person who she trusted as a boyfriend.  She admitted the offence when first challenge about it.  She indicated that she would assisted the prosecution gave a statement, which undoubtedly would has to assisted and obtaining pleas of guilty from the other defendants.  She has made full reparation of the amount on loan, which given that she is a person earning low income has a strong mitigation effect, so she is certainly in a category of a person, who should be considered for this offence of a Community Service Order.

11.  As I might be expected the report that I obtained on it, is very positive.  She has an ambition to be involved in creative arts or film and she studied at college in the Open University and obtained certificates to assist her in that endeavour.  She helps support her family, and as I say, she has good conduct at school and post-school. 

12.  The assessing officer realises she was become involved for this offence through her boyfriend and I told that relationship has been terminated.  If the defendant is placed on such an order, she will also be likely to receive a form of promotion at her work and will be able to earn some more money.

13.  I found the defendant is a strong candidate, for the imposition of the Community Service Order and that is a formal sentence that I would impose.  For this offence I decided a total of 160 hours of Community Service is the appropriate.