HKSAR v. WONG CHI MAN

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

1997, No. 128
(Criminal)

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J U D G M E N T

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Mayo, J.A. (giving the judgment of the Court):

1. The applicant pleaded guilty to being in possession of equipment for making false instruments contrary to s76(1) of the Crimes Ordinance. The equipment in question was 126 Gold Visa base cards of the Wing Hang Bank.

2. He was sentenced to 2 years 2 months' imprisonment.

3. He was stopped and searched by two police officers at Lo Wu Railway Station. The offending cards were found on him. He made cautioned statements to the police in which he admitted that he was taking the cards to China for processing so that they could be ready for use. He had obtained the cards from another man and would have received a financial reward for his efforts.

4. Deputy Judge Chow adopted 3 years as his starting point. He was not prepared to give a full 1/3 discount for the plea as it had not been offered at the earliest opportunity. He did however give a discount of 10 months.

5. In his grounds of appeal the applicant complained that his counsel did not place before the court mitigation as he would have wished. He also claimed that the sentence was excessive.

6. Before us he said that it had not been made clear that the bank had suffered no loss. This would have been manifest from the facts of the case. We do not consider that the sentence was either manifestly excessive or wrong in principle and this application is refused.