HKSAR v. YEUNG KA KIT JONATHAN

CAC C 160/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 160 OF 2013

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NO. 19 OF 2013)

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BETWEEN

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D E C I S I O N

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Hon Stock VP:

1.  In April 2013 the applicant pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary in the District Court. The burglary offence was committed in November 2012 when the applicant entered his old school and stole 21 textbooks worth $2,520, and tried to sell them nearby.

2.  As a matter of law, his entry to the school was as a trespasser and therefore this was no mere theft but a burglary as well although not in the sense in which one classically thinks of burglary. 

3.  He had only recently been released from prison for a similar offence.

4.  On the face of matters there is nothing wrong with the sentence imposed by the judge but there are a couple of factors which motivate me to the view that the case merits some consideration by a full bench, and they are the unusual background of this applicant and the unusual circumstances in which, so it would appear, he first came to commit these burglary offences. He was sentenced for his first theft offence in October 2009 when he was aged 33 years.  That date coincided with great financial difficulties which faced him, as well as an unfortunate incident relating to his girlfriend.  He seems thereafter to have immersed himself in a cycle of similar crime and it is a matter of puzzlement that somebody with this background has done so.  Accordingly I think his case should be considered in order for the court to decide whether the imperative of individual justice has been satisfied and whether something constructive might be done in relation to his future. 

5.  These are the reasons I have granted leave to appeal although I have made it perfectly clear to the applicant that I do not thereby hold out great hope for the chances of success.  I am merely doing so in order that his case can be fully considered.  The court hearing his appeal should be provided with all psychological and psychiatric reports which have been prepared hitherto and the facts of all the previous cases and I direct as well that there be prepared a probation report for the benefit of the appeal division.  I direct further that there be an expedited hearing of the appeal, set down for one hour.