CRIMINAL CASE NO. 348 OF 2009
The facts that you have admitted indicate that you, with another man, entered the victim's premises at 3 o'clock in the morning of 13 March 2007 whilst the victim was asleep in his bedroom. Both yourself and the other culprit entered the victim's bedroom armed with knives and wearing hoods. The bedroom was ransacked and valuable property taken away whilst the victim was held at knifepoint.
The victim was asked for his PIN to the ATM card, he was then tied up and gagged with you guarding him pointing the knife that you held against him, whilst your accomplice left. It was only through the sheer bravery of the victim, who managed to distract you, that he was able to untie himself, struggle with you and managed to disarm you in the process. You eventually managed to make your cowardly escape.
I am told that you are 20 years of age. You come from the Mainland and came to Hong Kong on this occasion to find employment. I am highly suspicious of this assertion but I emphasise that I do not sentence you today on the basis that you came here specifically to rob with your accomplice.
I am told that you are remorseful but this, in my judgment, does not sit well with the fact that it was not until May of this year that you were arrested in relation to this matter when the police were able to match your DNA. However, you have pleaded guilty and I must give you some credit for that.
The circumstances of this particular robbery are quite shocking. You invaded domestic premises at 3 o'clock in the morning, armed, hooded and subjected the victim to force by tying him up and gagging him. Whilst I am aware that it was your accomplice who actually tied the victim up, this was a joint enterprise in which you are equally responsible. One shudders to think of the fear and panic that must have been going through the victim's mind at the time.
The leading case for robberies of this nature is R v Mo Kwong Sang [1981] HKLR 61. I intend to adopt a starting point of 7 years' imprisonment but I will enhance this by 2 years to take account of the aggravating features that this robbery took place at night, more than one person took part in the robbery and threats were clearly made to the victim leading him to divulge his PIN, bringing my starting point up to 9 years' imprisonment.
This is not a timely plea of guilty. You did return to Hong Kong in April of 2007 and, were you genuinely remorseful, you could then have surrendered to the authorities. You chose not to. However, you have pleaded guilty and I am prepared to reduce my starting point of 9 years' imprisonment by 2 years to reflect this, coming to a sentence of 7 years' imprisonment.