HKSAR v. CHOY CHI HO

 DCCC421/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 421 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Choy Chi-ho, you have been convicted on your own pleas of one charge of obtaining property by deception and one charge of using a false instrument. Both offences occurred on the same day, 18 March this year, within 10 minutes of each other in the same shopping arcade in Nathan Road.

2.  At about 5.15 pm that day you entered a supermarket, Market Place by Jasons, and selected a bottle of brandy worth $1,268. You went to the checkout counter and used a forged Visa credit card bearing your name in order to buy the brandy. Ten minutes later you went to a wine shop on the same floor and there selected two expensive bottles of red wine. They were jointly worth $17,200. You took the bottles to the cashier. You then attempted to pay for the two bottles with the same forged credit card. The salesperson became suspicious and the police were contacted. You were arrested after the police arrived.

3.  You told the police that you were using the forged credit card in order to repay a gambling debt. According to you, the forged credit card was arranged by the person to whom you owed the gambling debt. It was agreed that you would receive 10 per cent of the value of anything you obtained using the forged credit card which would then be deducted from your gambling debt.

4.  You had been told to collect the forged card from a toilet in a shopping arcade in Mong Kok. You then went and bought the first bottle of brandy which you delivered to a man at Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. After that you went back and attempted to buy the two later bottles of wine.

5.  For the purpose of sentence I am prepared to accept the account that you gave to the police. It follows that you were not part of a syndicate involved in using forged credit cards to obtain goods. This is not a case which involves any international element. No other forged credit card was found on you. These factors do not mean that these were not serious offences.

6.  Modern society has become very dependent on the integrity of the credit system. Retailers rely on the credit cards being submitted to them being genuine. The courts are bound to take a serious view of those who attempt to undermine this trust by using forged credit cards. The sentences passed by the courts must make it clear to others who may be tempted to do the same thing that it is simply not worth it.

7.  In respect of each of these offences, I take a starting point of 2½ years’ imprisonment. You have pleaded guilty and are entitled to the usual discount of one-third. I find no reason to grant you any further discount. Accordingly, on Count 1, I sentence you to 20 months’ imprisonment. On Count 2, I also sentence you to 20 months’ imprisonment. Both sentences to run concurrently, so you are sentenced to a total of 20 months’ imprisonment.