HKSAR v. YU OI KEE

CACC 283/2014

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 283 OF 2014

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NO. 851 OF 2013)

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REASONS FOR DECISION

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1.  The applicant applied for bail pending appeal. She was convicted by District Judge Browne of conspiracy for agents to use a document with intent to deceive their principal, contrary to sections 9(3) and 12(1) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, Cap 201 (“POBO”) and sections 159A and 159C of the Crimes Ordinance, Cap 200, and agent accepting an advantage, contrary to sections 9(1)(a) and 12(1) again of the POBO. She was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment on each charge with both sentences ordered to be served concurrently.

2.  The co-conspirator in the first charge and the offeror of the advantage in the accepting charge was Luk Kin Peter Joseph to whom I granted bail pending appeal on 16 September 2014.  In the Reasons for Decision in respect of that application I set out a number of matters that concerned me in relation to the principal/agent relationship that is a key element of the first charge.  Those concerns are equally applicable to this applicant and equally provide her with arguable grounds of appeal with a reasonable likelihood of success.

3.  This applicant’s grounds in respect of the second charge are also less strong than in respect of the first charge but because she was only sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment the release date will be some time in June 2015.  Consequently, there is a high likelihood of her having served the majority, if not all, of her sentence before the outcome of her appeal is known.

4.  For these reasons I was satisfied this was an appropriate case to grant this applicant bail pending the hearing of her appeal.