HKSAR v. LAU CHING HIM

HCCC 277/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 277 OF 2015

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: The offence of throwing a corrosive liquid with intent to do grievous bodily harm carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. It is a truly terrible offence when it is carried out, as in this case, with the clearest intention of bringing about a lifetime of disfigurement, and in this case, quite hideous disfigurement. Your weapon for achieving this was a sewage cleaning fluid made of sulphuric acid at a concentration of 97 per cent. The photographs demonstrate very clearly that your main aim was at the victim named in Count 2 of the indictment. Furthermore, you had aimed this dreadful substance at the upper part of her body where most the liquid seems to have landed. But in fact the whole of her body, one way or another seems to be covered with this fluid.

She was your ex-girlfriend’s good friend; Ng Ka-man, who was just 18 years old at the time. Her face and her neck and her left arm have been dreadfully scarred. Even her left leg and to a slightly lesser extent, her right leg have been badly scarred. So by doing what you did, you have sentenced that girl to a lifetime of disfigurement. She has recently made a statement in which she has set out the impact of this cruel and cowardly act on your part has had on her life. And it reveals that her whole life now has changed from a normal one for a girl of her age to one which has given her insomnia, nightmares, depression and a phobia about even going out and mixing with strangers.

As a result of those chemical burns that she had suffered, she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has regularly to attend the department of psychiatry at a hospital. So she now has to take anti-depressants and sleeping pills for her condition. Quite apart from her mental problems which are serious enough, Ng Ka-man now suffers from blurred vision because the cornea in her left eye was burnt by the acid you threw at her and she is now unable to close that eye and suffers from a condition known as dry eye. She has undergone skin and muscle grafts, one such being 19 centimetres by 14 centimetres which was grafted onto her neck using skin and muscle from her thigh. She has follow-up treatments well into the future for both her physical condition and her mental condition.

In addition, there are painful physiotherapy sessions which are to stretch the scars that she suffers. Those scars had in fact tightened her skin so that her head now is pulled to one side. In the result, she is unable to work because of the way she looks and because of the emotional and mental stress and issues which she has. In fact, she is entirely dependent now on family support. She is unable to go out in hot weather because of the things she has to wear to cover her scars. Amongst those, it is said that she has to wear a scarf or a mask to avoid the unfriendly stares of people in the street and she also wears a pressure garment to prevent scar proliferation.

In short, the life of a teenage girl, which she would normally be looking forward to, has been ruined forever. The physical injuries, and the mental scars perhaps also, are not something from which she can ever recover.

Fortunately for the first victim named in the 1st count of the indictment, the injuries were far less serious. Her main injuries, which again are shown in photographs, were to the right buttock and to the upper part, in the main, of both her legs. But again the mental effects in her case have been dreadful and she, too, has post-traumatic stress disorder.

It seems probable that the reason Ng Ka-man received the direct force of the corrosive liquid you threw was that she had blamed you for bullying your ex-girlfriend and you blamed her for taking away your ex-girlfriend. Well, that is simply the reason, certainly not an excuse for what you did.

This was a planned attack on your part. In fact, what you had done is you tricked your ex-girlfriend into coming round to your flat to pick up her belongings which you had threatened to throw out. You knew perfectly well that they were on their way because they had been in communication with you by WhatsApp and Miss Ng had accused you of bullying Miss Siu during one of those conversations.

Your activities before their arrival were recorded, fortunately, by CCTV. You had come out of your flat at just about quarter past one and when you came into the street you were not there for very long before you went back inside and a few minutes later you came out again with that bottle of fluid placed in the basket and ready for their arrival.

When the van that they came in arrived, you went to the basket and you were holding the bottle when the argument broke out between you and the girls. It was after you had said to Ng Ka-man that she had taken your girlfriend away that you threw the liquid at her and of course some of it went onto the other victim as well. It is noticeable that when you first spoke to the police, you tried to make out that you had randomly picked up a plastic bottle to scare the main victim, but that the liquid had spilled when she fended off the bottle. Well, it was not like that at all. As you later made plain, to your credit, in the interview later with the police, you had bought that bottle.

The direction of the fluid was clearly at the upper part of the main victim in this case and you knew perfectly well what you were doing and what you were throwing because you had bought it yourself. The photographs, as you will have seen for yourself, speak louder than any words about the dreadful nature of these injuries.

I have been given by both sides a number of authorities and I have added one further one which seemed relevant to the sentencing process, namely HKSAR v Lam Ming Wing, CACC 152/2007, a Court of Appeal decision, which was also an extremely serious case. But none of these cases provide guidelines. All that can be done is an assessment of the gravity of each case on its own facts in the light of all circumstances, so that a sentence is then passed which not only punishes the offender for his terrible crime but which deters others from venting their feelings in such a merciless manner. Almost all these cases are connected with some form of domestic situation and almost all - no, not all - are committed by men on women.

On Count 1, I shall adopt a starting point of 8 years’ imprisonment. On Count 2, I shall adopt a starting point of 21 years’ imprisonment. Giving you credit for your pleas of guilty, on Count 1, the sentence is 5 years and 4 months and on Count 2, the sentence is 14 years’ imprisonment, concurrent.