HKSAR v. NG YUK CHING POLLY

CACC 98/2001

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 98 OF 2001

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NOS. 1063 AND 1172 OF 2000)

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J U D G M E N T

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1. I grant the Applicant leave to appeal against her sentence. I do not do so on the basis that it is arguable that the judge erred in principle in sentencing the Applicant to be detained in a training centre. On the material before the judge, an order that the Applicant be detained in a training centre was appropriate in the light of the serious crimes which she had committed. However, the Applicant is still only 19, and she has been in custody for 5 months and undergoing training in the training centre for 4 months. It may be that she has now learned the lesson that people who resort to crime get punished. Her expressions of remorse, regret and her desire to start a new life with her two young sons away from the malign influence of her boyfriend appear genuine.

2. Though she undoubtedly deserved a custodial sentence for what she did, it is, I think, arguable that the period for which she will have been in custody by the time her appeal is heard will have done everything which requiring her to complete her training in the training centre would have taught her in terms of the need to live a life in which she does not commit crime. It is also arguable that showing her mercy when her appeal is heard will be more likely to encourage her to lead an honest life than requiring her to complete her period of training, especially when her older co-defendant, no doubt for good reasons, was only ordered to perform community service.

3. So that the hearing of the appeal is not adjourned, I direct that an up-to-date report on the Applicant be prepared which should address two questions: how she has been performing in the training centre, and the effect which custody has had on her resolve to lead a crime-free life in the future.