HKSAR v. LO KAM HO, DANIEL

DCCC796/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 796 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Lo Kam-ho, you have been convicted, on your own pleas, of one charge of false imprisonment and one charge of criminal intimidation.

2.  The background to both offences, which occurred on the same day, 31 May this year, was the break-up of your relationship with the victim.  It appears to have been a close relationship, at least insofar as you were concerned.  Sometimes she would spend the night at your flat and sometimes you would spend the night at hers.  You had asked her to marry you, and you each had keys to each other’s flats. 

3.  The break-up occurred at the end of April, but you kept calling her.  She, however, ignored you.  At the time you were 23 and she was 22.

4.  On the day of the offence you used keys to enter her flat in Ki Lung Street in Sham Shui Po.  You begged her to resume the relationship, but she refused.  You then went on to commit the acts which amounted to the offences to which you have pleaded guilty.  She wanted to leave the flat in order to take her dog for a walk, but you shut the door to prevent her leaving.  You then threatened her by telling her that you had dangerous drugs with you, which you would force her to take until she was addicted, so that she would follow you.  There is no suggestion, however, that you did, in fact, have drugs with you. 

5.  Even more seriously, however, you took out a roll of adhesive tape and four plastic straps, from your rucksack.  You used the adhesive tape to tie around her head so as to gag her mouth, and you used the plastic straps to tie her thumbs together.  Having done that you continued to beg her to return to you.  At a point when she appeared to have something to say you pulled the tape down to her lower jaw. 

6.  Shortly afterwards she took advantage of an opportunity to open the front door and dash downstairs into the street.  While she was there she called out for the police.  You chased after her, but eventually she saw some neighbours and stopped to tell them what had happened, and you disappeared.

7.  There is no suggestion she sustained any physical injury as a result of what occurred.

8.  To use violence and threats in this way is totally unacceptable however strong your emotional distress at the prospect of losing her.  What makes the matter more serious is that it was clearly a premeditated offence in that you accept that you took the tape and the ties around to her flat.  How you envisaged, by subjecting your girlfriend to this terrifying ordeal, she would agree to reunite with you I cannot imagine.

9.  This is not the first time you have been before the courts.  In March 2007 you came before a court for the offences of possession of dangerous drugs and resisting a police officer, and you were fined. I bear in mind that those offences were completely different from the ones before the court today, and for the purpose of sentence I disregard them.

10.  Normally offences of the kind now before the court would call for an immediate sentence of imprisonment, but there are circumstances in this case which have led me to consider whether it would be in the best interests of both society and yourself to take a different course. 

11.  As you know, I have had the benefit of reports as to your suitability for detention centre, a psychologist’s report and a probation officer’s report.  It is common ground that, except for a brief period, you have not had the benefit of a stable home life during your childhood.  Indeed, quite the contrary.

12.  It appears, from what you have told the reporting officers, to have been an exceptionally disturbed childhood.  The probation officer described your family as a “mild high conflicting family”. It appears that you were subjected to physical abuse from your own father.  You allege that he even chained you and locked you in a dog cage.  Your father left the family, only to be replaced by a first step-father, who abused both you and your mother.  And it appears that your mother had then to resort to the nightclub industry to support herself, leaving you in the care of relatives.

13.  At the age of 12 you returned to live with your mother, who had married your current step-father.  Unfortunately, he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for trafficking in dangerous drugs.  Debt collectors threatened to set fire to your home, which led to you leaving your mother and living on the streets for a while.  Although the exact sequence of events is unclear from the background reports, it is apparent that at some stage your mother had a breakdown and had to receive some form of psychiatric treatment.

14.  It is not perhaps surprising, in view of your background, that your academic performance and your conduct at school should have deteriorated.  You left school after Form 3.

15.  Despite this enormously disadvantageous start to life, you have made some very creditworthy attempts to overcome those handicaps.  You undertook vocational training after leaving school and, although it appears you did not complete the course, in 2005 you found employment in a travel agency. 

16.  Since then you have developed a strong interest in ecology and you have become involved in both eco-tourism and photography. Documents demonstrating your involvement in these areas have been shown to me by Miss Tai.  It appears that you and two friends, one of whom, Kingsley Wong gave evidence before me this morning, have established a company and formulated business plans for an eco-tourism business.  Your two friends have urged the probation officer that you be allowed your liberty in order to continue with this business proposition.  I must say that Kingsley Wong struck me as an intelligent and responsible young man.

17.  It appears further from the reports I have received that your teachers and social workers have had a positive influence on you.  The clinical psychologist, Mr Hung, says that you have encountered many positive figures who have helped you develop resilience against deep-rooted criminality and major psycho-pathology. 

18.  It appears to me that two main problems persist.  One is that it appears that you have not given up taking drugs from time to time, and it was for this reason that you were deemed unsuitable for detention centre.  And secondly, that, as Mr Hung, the clinical psychologist has commented, because of your background and the resulting unstable self-esteem and social maladjustment, you are capable of acting in anti-social ways when under stress or confronted with exceedingly psychologically demanding situations.  I am satisfied that it is clearly the latter that led you to commit these offences.  These are problems that you yourself have to confront if you are to lead an honest and worthwhile life.  I believe that you are capable of overcoming these problems if you make the effort to do so. 

19.  I have received conflicting reports as to your suitability for probation.  The report from Mr Chow Lap-wai regarding your suitability for detention centre comments that he does not believe that there would be an improvement in your behaviour if you were granted open supervision.  On the other hand, Mr Roger Lane the probation officer, recommends a probation order, subject to certain conditions being attached. 

20.  Bearing in mind that you have already experienced prison life for nine weeks, and because I believe that you are capable of resolving your problems and that you now have family and responsible friends to support you, I am prepared to take the risk of following Mr Lane’s recommendations and impose a probation order, subject to certain conditions. Such an order would, of course, be subject to your consent to abide by the conditions. 

21.  I want to make it clear that this is an exceptional course that I am taking.  You are unlikely to be given such a chance ever again.  If you fail to comply with the conditions attached to the order you will be brought back to court and may be sentenced again for these two offences.  Almost certainly that will mean you going to prison.

22.  On the two charges before the court I propose to make a probation order for 18 months.  The conditions that I would attach to this order, if you agree to the making of such an order, are that: you would not contact Miss Ip Shuk-kwan directly or indirectly; secondly, that you would undergo such psychological counselling, drug addiction treatment and counselling, and such other counselling as the probation officer should specify; that you abstain from the consumption of dangerous drugs and subject yourself to such random urine tests as the probation officer shall stipulate; and, fourthly, that you comply with all other reasonable directions of your probation officer. 

23.  Are you prepared to agree to be put on probation subject to those terms?

DEFENDANT: Agree.

24.  Very well, I make a probation order on those terms.