|
HCCC89/2006
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 89 OF 2006
------------------
| |
HKSAR |
|
| |
v |
|
| |
LO Hon-hing |
(A1) |
| |
LI Cho-ming |
(A2) |
| |
LAM Tse-lik |
(A3) |
| |
LEUNG Chi-hung |
(A4) |
| ------------------ |
| Before: |
The Honourable Mrs Justice V Bokhary |
| Date: |
26 March 2007 at 10.31 am |
| Present: |
Mr Simon Tam, SGC and Miss Peggy Lo, GC, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Ian Polson, instructed by Messrs Chan & Tsu (assigned by DLA), for the 1st Accused
Mr John Marray, instructed by Messrs Raymond Chan, Kenneth Yuen & Co (assigned by DLA), for the 2nd Accused
Mr Nigel De Boinville, instructed by Messrs Cheung & Yip (assigned by DLA), for the 3rd Accused
Mr Nicholas Adams, instructed by Messrs Alvin Cheng & Rosaline Choy (assigned by DLA), for the 4th Accused |
---------------------------------
Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
---------------------------------
COURT: Right. Lo Hon-hing, Li Cho-ming, Leung Chi-hung. Each of you have been convicted by the jury's verdict of murder. For that, the sentence is fixed by law. Lo Hon-hing, I sentence you to life imprisonment. Li Cho-ming, I sentence you to life imprisonment. And Leung Chi-hung, I sentence you to life imprisonment.
Lam Tse-lik, you have been convicted by the jury's verdict of manslaughter. I have taken into account everything urged by your counsel on your behalf. There is no effective mitigation for reducing your sentence from the appropriate starting-point. In arriving at that starting-point, I bear carefully in mind that the verdict against you is manslaughter rather than murder, which means that you did not intend that the deceased be killed or even caused really serious injury. I bear that carefully in mind in your favour. Even so, the offence of manslaughter is a serious offence for which the maximum penalty, while not mandatory, is life imprisonment. An attack in which you participated was on a defenceless woman and has resulted in her death.
All things considered, I regard a sentence of 12 years' imprisonment to be appropriate for you. I therefore sentence you to 12 years' imprisonment.
I also wish to say this. No one believes that the four of you made the decision that the victim be attacked. The order to attack her must have come from another person or other persons. Three of you have each received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, while one of you has received a sentence of 12 years' imprisonment. But if, even after you have exhausted all avenues of appeal, you honestly helped the authorities in bringing to justice the person or persons who ordered the attack on the victim, that could perhaps very considerably reduce how long you really have to remain in prison. Your counsel will no doubt advise you on this matter.
|