HKSAR v. WONG KIN FAI

DCCC 969/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 969 OF 2013

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a single offence of robbery, contrary to section 10 of the Theft Ordinance, Cap.210.

2.  You admitted the facts and I convicted you.

3.  The facts were as follows.

4.  At about 11.25 pm on 29 August last, Ms Wong Hoi-ling (PW1) alighted from a bus and walked alone near the junction of Waterloo Road and Yim Po Fong Street, Mong Kok.  She carried a handbag on her left arm and another bag on her right shoulder.

5.  You walked towards her from the front and attempted to snatch the handbag.  She struggled and held on to it tightly, whilst you were holding onto the handbag as well and trying to run away with it.  Eventually, she fell to the ground, injuring her knees.

6.  You snatched the handbag and fled.

7.  She shouted for assistance and gave chase.  A male (PW2) saw you running with the handbag and gave chase.  He and two other male pedestrians subdued you.  PW1 identified you as the robber.

8.  A handbag containing a bag, a recorder, a pair of Bluetooth earphones, a coin bag, an Octopus card, a cardholder, four facial devices, two smartphones, keys, cosmetics, six pens, notebooks and $18.70 were recovered from next to you.  The total value of the things that you had taken amounted to some $40,308.70.

9.  Upon arrest and caution, you said, “Ah Sir, I wanted to rob, but failed.”

10.  In a subsequent video recorded interview under caution, you said you regretted committing the robbery.

11.  You admitted to 22 previous convictions on 15 different occasions, nine of which involved dishonesty.  You have previous convictions for robbery also.

12.  Mr Yuen, on your behalf, entered mitigation.  I am very obliged to him for reducing those submissions to writing.  It is extremely helpful. 

13.  The gist of what he told me is as follows.

14.  You are 33, educated to Form 2 and it seems you are single.  Your father passed away some time ago.  Your mother is 53 and reliant on social security.  You have one elder brother.  At the time of the offence you were employed at Ocean Park as a cleansing worker, earning some $230 a day and working 20 days a month.

15.  Referring to the offence itself, Mr Yuen said you acted alone, no weapon was involved and that the violence employed was minimal.  You were trying to snatch the bag, but the victim unfortunately fell to the ground.  He accepted that the value of the goods was just over $40,000. He said that you committed the offence due to financial difficulties and had at the time of the offence only $20 in your possession.

16.  He referred me to the case of HKSAR v Ting Chiu & Another, CACC 174/2003.  This was an unarmed robbery involving two persons.  A starting point of 4 years was approved of.

17.  He concluded his mitigation by asking for the appropriate sentence in this case.

The sentence itself

18.  You are a man with a truly appalling criminal record for one so young.  You have many crimes of dishonesty on that record and you have committed robbery before.

19.  This is a serious robbery.  It occurred at night.  PW1 must have been very alarmed at your attack.

20.  However, there are many points in your favour: you acted alone, you were unarmed, you used minimal violence and the goods were recovered.

21.  The goods stolen were of quite high value. However, I do note and take into account that that is merely fortuitous on your part; you could have no idea what was in that handbag.

22.  In any event, as I said, everything has been recovered.

23.  Whilst the facts do say you had to be subdued, you do appear to have been cooperative when stopped.

24.  At this point I do turn aside and commend the bravery and public-spirited acts of PW2 and the two pedestrians who subdued you.  Also, PW1, who acted bravely and decisively to ensure that you were apprehended.  I ask the prosecutor, Mr Tam, to ensure that these people do receive some acknowledgement from the police of their acts.

25.  It is to your credit that you have pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and you will reap the benefits of that plea.  That plea demonstrates a level of remorse and has saved court time.

26.  Taking all factors that I have mentioned, I take as a starting point 45 months (that is, 3 years and 9 months), reduced to 30 months for your plea of guilty. 

27.  You will go to prison for 30 months.