THE QUEEN v. LAM KIN SANG

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JUDGMENT

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Fuad, V.-P. (giving the judgment of the court):

1. On 9th October 1990, the applicant Lam Kin Sang pleaded guilty to 9 charges in the District Court before Mr. C.E. McKee sitting as a Deputy Judge of that court. On 24th October he was sentenced to imprisonment totalling 3 years and 9 months and he now seeks leave to appeal against the totality of the sentences. The details of the charges and the sentences are as follows:

2. The deputy judge ordered the sentences of imprisonment on Charges 1, 2 and 3 to run consecutively, and the sentences on Charges 4 to 9 to run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the sentences on the other charges - thus the total term imposed was 3 years and 9 months imprisonment.

3. The applicant is aged about 42 and, it seems, has been drug dependent for some 8 years. He entered Hong Kong illegally in 1972 and has never had any family ties here. He has been before the courts many times. He was sentenced to short terms of imprisonment for burglary in 1974; theft in 1975; loitering and going equipped for stealing in March 1976; 2 offences of theft in December 1976; and for burglary and giving false information to pawnbrokers in 1982. In 1983 he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years' imprisonment and 12 months' imprisonment to run concurrently for 3 offences of burglary and 1 of theft. In 1986 he was sent to prison for concurrent terms of 2 1/2 years and 1 year, for 2 offences of burglary  and 1 of going equipped for stealing. Finally, in January 1989, he was sentenced to  9 months' imprisonment for going equipped for stealing and to 18 months' imprisonment for 3 offences of burglary, all to be served concurrently.

4. Mrs. Robertson who appears for the applicant on this application has no complaint to make about the individual sentences but submits that the totality of 3 years and 9 months is excessive in all the circumstances since he frankly admitted the charges. Moreover, she draws attention to the fact that the two burglary offences reflected in the 2nd and 3rd Charges would never have been prosecuted were it not for the information he gave to the police after he had been arrested in connection with the attempted burglary charged in the 1st Charge.

5. Mrs. Robertson cited the case of The Queen v. Chan Yui Man Criminal Appeal No. 36 of 1988, a decision of this court given by Silke, V.P. on 23rd February 1989. We need only say that we consider that that case is of no assistance. The applicant there was a young man of 23 and had no previous convictions.

6. Mrs. Robertson contends that a sentence in the region of 3 years' imprisonment in total would be adequate to serve the interests of justice. We do not agree. We consider that the totality of the criminality involved justified the length of the term ordered to be served. Indeed, this court might have upheld sentences which totalled a longer period. The applicant has shown himself to be a menace to society. The application for leave to appeal against sentence is refused.