R. v. Wong Shu Lam
Read the full judgment text of CACC 140/1996 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 12 July 1996.
1. The applicant seeks leave to appeal against the total sentence of 5 years' imprisonment imposed upon him for a conspiracy to make false instruments namely credit cards and 19 counts of using counterfeit credit cards.
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CACC000140/1996 IN THE COURT OF APPEAL 1996, No. 140
-------------------- Coram: Hon Yang, C.J., Nazareth, V.-P. and Mayo, J.A. Date of hearing: 12 July 1996 Date of judgment: 12 July 1996 ---------------------- J U D G M E N T ---------------------- Mayo, J.A. (giving the judgment of the Court): 1. The applicant seeks leave to appeal against the total sentence of 5 years' imprisonment imposed upon him for a conspiracy to make false instruments namely credit cards and 19 counts of using counterfeit credit cards. 2. He appeared before Duffy, J. and pleaded guilty to these counts. He was sentenced to 3½ years' imprisonment on the conspiracy count and 1½years consecutive on the other counts all of which were ordered to be served concurrently. 3. The applicant was arrested on the evening of 6 March 1995. The police had been keeping him under surveillance. He had obtained 3 counterfeit credit cards from his co-accused Mr Kwok. The scheme was that the applicant would provide particulars to Mr Kwok who would then by using a computer cause data to be encoded on to the foils on the card. 4. The counts relating to the use of the cards were all of a similar nature. The applicant would purchase or attempt to purchase expensive items such as jewellery or watches and use the counterfeit credit cards to effect payment. The total value of the goods concerned was of the order of $150,000. 5. One significant feature of this case is that many of the offences were committed while the applicant was on bail. 6. Another important feature was that the applicant has a bad record. He has committed other offences of a similar nature in other parts of the world. He also has quite a bad record in Hong Kong which includes convictions for theft and blackmail. 7. In passing sentence Duffy J took cognisance of the adverse effect caused to Hong Kong's reputation internationally by offences of this nature. 8. Duffy, J. took 7 years as the starting point for the conspiracy and 3 years for using the cards. He gave credit for the guilty pleas and for the assistance the applicant gave to the police concerning his co-accused. 9. In his written submission Mr Blanchflower advises us that the police did not consider that the information which had been provided by the applicant had been of much assistance. 10. In his grounds of appeal the applicant simply states that the sentence was too heavy. Before us he told us that he had been advised by the police officer who had arrested him that if he co-operated he would make a written submission to the court to mitigate the applicant's offence. The applicant complains that the police officer did not honour this promise. However it would appear to us nothing very much further could have been said which would have been of much assistance. 11. The sentence which were imposed were neither manifestly excessive nor wrong in principle. The application is accordingly dismissed.
Representation: Mr M.C. Blanchflower, SACP for Crown Prosecutor WONG Shu-lam - Applicant in person/present |