COURT: The defendant had pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with intent to rob at the committal stage. Both charges charged him on the same day, which is 18 December 2021, assaulted with intent to rob at two 7-Eleven convenience stores in Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei respectively.
From the facts admitted by him at the committal stage, the facts are such that on 18 December 2021 at 2126 hours, a lady was working alone at the cashier inside a 7-Eleven convenience store at No. 39 Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok. Defendant entered the store, held out a cutter and pointed towards her and declared robbery. The lady shop assistant yelled for help. Defendant fled.
On the same day at 2216 hours, just less than an hour, you went to another 7-Eleven convenience store at No. 56 Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei. You displayed your Alipay QR code from your phone and asked the lady shop assistant there to add cash value. You asked for an addition of $2,700, but you did not pay any money.
You said that you have no money and your mother had died. You asked the lady to give you a helping hand by adding cash for free. You also pointed a cutter towards her and told her that she can take it, that it was a robbery.
This lady shop assistant is not courageous enough and she approved the transaction. Once cash value was added, you fled.
The CCTV surveillance camera in both convenience stores recorded the incidents. The conversations and the interaction between you and the two ladies were recorded. When you were outside a 7-Eleven convenience store at No. 560 Nathan Road, you pulled off your surgical mask and your facial appearance was captured by the CCTV.
Police also found the cutter that you had used was abandoned outside Cityview Hotel. The distance between the second convenience store and Cityview Hotel is only about 50 metres. Police investigated and found out your identity. And on 24 December 2021, it was discovered that you registered to live in Panda Hotel in Tsuen Wan.
Later that day, on the 24th, you were apprehended at the hotel lobby. Under caution, you made admission to both offences.
You came from a broken family in that you were raised by your mother. You have received education up to Form 5, and from the certificate that was produced to this court, it seems that you were doing not bad at all when you were at school, showing that you are well-behaved at school. It is sad to see a young man like you run into trouble with the law and have to face a term of imprisonment.
It is put before advanced before me that you committed the present offence due to financial needs as well as under the influence of drugs. It is also confirmed that after you were remanded in custody at the Correctional Service Department, that you had traces of drugs in your urine. Looking at the facts of the case, I have no hesitation in accepting that you were under the influence of drugs at the material time.
Having said that, that is not a mitigating factor. Though it seems that you behave well when you were at school, you committed three offences in 2021 in a row. Worse still, you committed the present offence in breach of a term of suspended imprisonment. You committed the present offence some 8 months after that sentence was passed on you. So I am afraid that I cannot give you a discount for being a good student at school.
In Mo Kwong Sang v R [1981] HKLR 610, the court has said that for an ordinary armed robbery, one should look at a starting point of 5 years.
There is an aggravating factor in the offences that you have committed in that the victims are convenience stores. For that, I enhance the starting point of 5 years by 1 year.
You committed the present offence while you were under a term of suspended imprisonment. So the term of suspended sentence did not deter you from committing further offence. That is another aggravating factor.
At the end of the day, I adopt a starting point in view of these aggravating factors, a term of imprisonment of 6½ years. I give you one-third discount for your plea. Other than that, as I have said, there is nothing much in your case which I find that I can discount the starting point, especially you committed three offences in a row. Giving you one-third discount, that will bring the sentence to 4 years and 4 months for each count.
The next question that I have to decide is whether the two sentences on two counts should run concurrently, consecutively, or partly consecutive and partly concurrent. It is urged upon me, on your behalf, that the sentence should be made to run concurrently. Although it is close in time, I cannot accept that this is one transaction. And I therefore think that making them to run concurrently is wrong in principle.
However, I have taken into consideration the proximity of place and time and probably because you get nothing out of the first attempt, you committed the second offence. I also have taken into consideration that as suggested by your counsel, there is no planning. You probably acted on impulse and under the influence of drugs. Therefore, I will not make the terms consecutive.
In order to reflect a proper assessment of your culpability in committing these offences, I order that 1 year of the 2nd count to run consecutive to the 1st count and the remaining to run concurrently with Count 1. So for the two offences, the total sentence is one of 5 years and 4 months.
I then now have to consider the breach of the suspended sentence. You were sentenced to 6 months suspended for 3 years on 15 April 2021. As I have said, you committed the present offences some 8 months after that.
I see no reason in not activating the term of suspended imprisonment in its totality. So I will activate the suspended term of imprisonment of 6 months in its entirety and that is to run consecutively to the 5 years and 4 months that you have to serve for these two offences. So in total, you have to serve 5 years and 10 months.
You were arrested and remanded in custody since 24 December 2021. And if you behave well in prison, I think you should be out soon. And I hope you can stick to what you have wrote in your mitigation letter and you really turn a new leaf. I do not want you to make a living by committing offences.
Finally, I will also make an order of compensation order in the sum of 2,700 to be payable to Dairy Farm Company Limited through the court.