HKSAR v. LAU SZE KIN

DCCC 1301/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1301 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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Charge and facts

1.  The defendant pleads guilty to the burglary of a hut in the countryside of Sheung Shui, N.T. 

2.  Madam Poon lived there.  Her son and daughter-in-law lived next door.  There were metal-wired hoardings surrounding the premises.  She went out in the morning after securing all the doors and windows.  When she returned a few hours later, the metal grilles had been removed from the window, which was prised open, in the sitting room.  A crowbar originally placed in the atrium outside the hut had been moved to the sitting room.  She saw the defendant leaving through a window.  He told her not to call the police as he had not taken anything from her.  There were signs of ransacking in the sitting room and the bedroom.  She lost some HKD coins and RMB in the bedroom. 

3.  The police received her report and found the defendant in the countryside of Fanling, N.T.  A body search yielded Madam Poon’s lost property: RMB¥1,805 and HKD coins to the value of HKD$40.  After arrest and caution he admitted climbing over the hoardings and prising open the window with a crowbar to enter the hut to steal.     

Defendant’spersonal background and mitigation

4.  He is 59 years of age.  He is unemployed.  He receives $1,000 per month from his wife at work.  He had 15 convictions for burglary since 1979.  There was a respite between 1996 and 2004.  Between 2004 and 2009, however, the pattern recurred.  He has to be regarded a recidivist burglar.      

Principles of sentencing

5.  A first-time burglar of residential premises can expect 3 years’ imprisonment in the absence of aggravating factors (Attorney General v Lui Kam-chi [1993] 1 HKC 215; HKSAR v Lau Pang [2004] 3 HKLRD 565).

6.  A recidivist can expect a heavier sentence for more deterrent effect（HKSAR v Ngo Van Huy [2005] 2 HKLRD 1）.

Sentencing this defendant

7.  I take 3 years and 6 months as the starting point.  I give one-third discount for the plea of guilty.  There are no other mitigating factors.  His sentence is 2 years and 4 months.