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DCCC1354/2009
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1354 OF 2009
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Before:
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Deputy District Judge Woodcock
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Date:
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25 June 2010 at 10.02 am
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Present:
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Mr Dominic Ngai, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Tang Yiu-wing, of Ivan Tang & Co., for the Defendant
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. The defendant has pleaded guilty to one charge of theft, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance, Cap.210.
2. The particulars of the offence are that on 7 August 2009, he stole 854 boxes of milk powder, the property belonging to Regal Pine International Limited.
3. A Mr Lau Leung-hei is the proprietor of this company. In June 2009 he established a business relationship with the defendant trading goods. All these orders were dealt with successfully, and the defendant settled his bills.
4. Mr Lau knew the defendant by a different name. This Mr Lau had even in July visited the offices of the defendant and met him there.
5. Later on that same month, the victim, Mr Lau, needed some help. He needed some space to store some milk powder from an order delivered to Hong Kong, which was unsuccessful. These goods had already arrived in Hong Kong and the defendant offered to store the milk powder in his premises.
6. Instead, the defendant arranged for the goods to be collected by some transportation workers, and the goods disappeared, as did the defendant. The cheque paid to this delivery company was also not honoured.
7. One cannot say that from the facts this was a spur of the moment theft. There was some planning involved in transporting the goods away. The defendant clearly did not intend to store the goods on behalf of Mr Lau.
8. After the defendant was arrested, he told the police that he had sold the goods on.
9. This was not a sophisticated theft. The defendant saw an opportunity and got greedy.
10. The value of the 854 cartons of milk powder is $1,162,970.
11. When the defendant was arrested, $268,000 cash was recovered from his vehicle as well as 15 cans of milk powder.
12. After the defendant had pleaded guilty, sentence was adjourned to give the defendant time to raise as much compensation as possible. He has now been able to raise $424,860.11. I have been informed by the defence counsel that he has cleaned out all his bank accounts to raise this money.
13. On top of that, the cash found in his vehicle, $268,000, will also go towards compensation. $692,000-odd has been raised by the defendant to repay Mr Lau. Mr Lau’s loss as it is stands today will be $470,110.
14. I have heard mitigation put forward on behalf of the defendant.
15. The defendant is 46 years old, and until now had a clear record. He is married with a 10-year-old son, and has responsibility for his mother and mentally retarded younger sister.
16. The defendant’s best mitigation is his plea of guilty, that is a sign of remorse, and on top of that he has tried his best to compensate the victim’s loss. All these matters will be relevant to sentence.
17. Having considered all these factors, if the loss to Mr Lau had been just over $1 million I would have taken a starting point of 2 years and 6 months.
18. The defendant has managed to raise 60 per cent of the loss to compensate Mr Lau. For this reason, and for other mitigation put forward, I will further reduce the starting point by 9 months. I will take a starting point of 21 months.
19. The defendant has pleaded guilty and he is entitled to a discount of one-third. That discount will be 7 months.
20. Defendant, please stand up. You, for this offence of theft, will be sentenced to 1 year and 2 months’ imprisonment. Have a seat please.
21. There will be an additional compensation order of $424,860.11 payable to the victim, Mr Liu Liangxi, to be paid into court today. The court will pay the victim directly.
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A. J. Woodcock |
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Deputy District Judge |
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