HKSAR v. MOK BIU

HCMA 69/2002

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 69 OF 2002

(ON APPEAL FROM ESCC 4115/2001)

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J U D G M E N T

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1. The appellant pleaded guilty in the Magistrates court to an offence of wounding contrary to Section 19 of Chapter 212. He was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and he appeals against that sentence.

2. In essence what the appellant told me was that he could not complain about the length of the sentence but he would prefer to be in the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre where the offence took place and to which he will be returned upon completion of his sentence.

3. In his reasons for sentence what the learned Magistrate said was this:

" The Defendant admitted wounding a fellow prisoner at the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre with a pair of scissors. The injury suffered by the victim was not as serious as it might have been. However, I thought that the Defendant's resorting to violence over a minor matter, was even in the stressful and concentrated atmosphere of a correctional institution, a serious matter aggravated by his use of a sharp weapon.

From the facts admitted it appeared that the fact that the victim was not more seriously injured was a matter of good fortune rather than any restraint on the Defendant's part. I thought imprisonment the appropriate sentence. I took 9 months imprisonment as the starting point. Allowing a reduction of one-third for the Defendant's plea I imposed a sentence of 6 moths imprisonment on the Defendant mindful of the fact that the Defendant was receiving treatment at the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre."

4. The sentence was neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive and accordingly the appeal must be dismissed.