HKSAR v. SUEN FUK WING

DCCC825/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 852 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Suen Fuk-wing, you have been convicted by me after trial of one charge of using false instruments, namely 753 false mooncake coupons, contrary to section 73 of the Crimes Ordinance, Cap.200, and one count of possessing false instruments, namely 884 false mooncake coupons, contrary to section 75(1) of the Crimes Ordinance.

2.  At about 5.30 pm on the day referred to in the charge, 7 September 2009, you drove a light goods vehicle to the principal branch of the Kee Wah Bakery at 666 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan.  You then entered the shop premises of Kee Wah at that address with 753 false mooncake coupons, each of which, if it had been genuine, would have been entitled the holder to a box of mooncakes worth $218.  You presented the coupons to Madam Fan Sheung-ping, a supervisor who was behind the counter of the shop.  She gave most of them to a colleague to count it, but on examining the rest found discrepancies between the coupons tendered by you and genuine coupons.  She alerted a colleague who was in the restaurant part of the premises to her suspicions.  That colleague or someone on her behalf must have alerted the police. 

3.  Madam Fan returned to the shop and continued to count the coupons until the arrival of the police when you were arrested.  The cash value of the coupons you used that day was $164,154.  Those 753 false coupons are the subject of Charge 1.

4.  After the police arrived and arrested you, while denying that you knew they were false you informed the police that there were further coupons in your vehicle.  In your vehicle, the police found 864 false coupons on the raised platform from behind the front driver and passenger seats and a further 20 such coupons in the pocket of the door next to the driver seat.  The cash value of those 884 false coupons was $192,712.  The total cash value of all the 1,637 coupons, either used by you or in the shop or found in the vehicle, was $356,866.

5.  It follows that you were involved in an enterprise seeking to obtain a very substantial quantity of tins of mooncakes worth a very considerable sum of money.  I am prepared to accept that you may well not have been one of the main culprits in this enterprise, nonetheless, you were in the central part of the enterprise and you would have been aware that if it had been successful, Kee Wah would suffer serious financial loss. 

6.  I take into account that no loss was actually suffered by Kee Wah but it has to be said that that fact is no thanks to you.  I bear in mind that you are the breadwinner of the family and have a young son. In my view, the appropriate starting point on Charge 1, the charge of using the coupons, is one of 2 years’ imprisonment.  On Charge 2, the charge of possession of the false coupons in the van, I adopt a starting point of 1½ years’ imprisonment. 

7.  I am satisfied that there are no circumstances warranting any discount from those starting points.  You have not indicated any remorse by pleading guilty.  You cannot claim to be a man of previous good character although I note that none of your previous convictions are for similar offences and have not involved dishonesty.  In my view, the appropriate overall starting point on both charges is 2½ years’ imprisonment. 

8.  On Charge 1, I pass a sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment.  On Charge 2, I sentence you to 18 months’ imprisonment and 6 months of which are to run consecutive to the sentence on Charge 1, that is, making a total of 2½ years’ imprisonment.