HKSAR v. Khan Shoukit Abbas

DCCC 246/2017

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 246 OF 2017

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Reasons for Sentence

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Chargeand facts

1.The Defendant pleads guilty to a charge of burglary. 

2.The offence location was a container office situated in a fenced and locked-up construction site in Shek Kip Mei.  At around 2:40 a.m. on 24/1/2017, the only security guard on duty there heard footsteps outside a container office, which did not have a lock.  A report was made to the police.   

3.The police arrived after 15 minutes and the security guard saw the Defendant carrying a computer monitor (later confirmed to be stolen from the office, valued at $2,300) with both hands near the main entrance of the site.  After fleeing, the Defendant was arrested upon being found hiding in a portable toilet with a jacket covering his head.  He had a Wi-Fi router (also stolen from the office, valued at $580) in his trouser pocket.   

4.After being arrested and cautioned at the scene, he admitted stealing the items.  In a later recorded interview assisted by an Urdu interpreter, he admitted that he entered the site through a gap at the gate and then entered the unlocked container office to look for valuables, and that he intended to sell the computer monitor and the Wi-Fi router for food. 

Background and mitigation

5.The Defendant is 41 years of age, of junior education level in Pakistan.  He has later become a Hong Kong citizen.  He had a record for stealing a bicycle at a country park.  He was sentenced to 6 weeks and released not long before the present offence.  He worked as a casual worker in construction sites at $700 per day with 10 days’ work per months on average. 

Sentencing considerations

6.In A.G. v. Lui Kam-chi [1993] 1 HKC 215, the Court of Appeal states that the proper starting point for non-domestic premises shall be 2 years 6 months’ imprisonment for a first offender of full age. 

Sentencing the Defendant

7.I am not going to aggravate his present sentence for his theft record, which was of a relatively minor nature.  As he had entered the site through a gap at the gate and then entered the container office which was unlocked, I take a starting point which is slightly lower than the conventional one.  From a starting point of 2 years 3 months, he will have a one-third discount for his timely plea of guilty.  The sentence is 18 months.