HKSAR v. Limbu Siddhanta

DCCC 13/2017

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 13 OF 2017

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of arson, contrary to sections 60(2) and (3) and 63(1) of the Crimes Ordinance, Chapter 200 of the Laws of Hong Kong. The particulars of the charge are:- LIMBU Siddhanta, on the 23^rd day of November 2016, at the staircase between 1^st Floor and 2^nd Floor, No. 37M Jordan Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, in Hong Kong, without lawful excuse destroyed or damaged by fire some newspapers, the staircase and common area, property belonging to another, intending to destroy or damage such property, and being reckless as to whether the lives of others would be thereby endangered.

Fact

2.As a matter of fact, the defendant and his mother were living together in a small unit on the 8^th floor of the residential building in question.

3.At 6 o’clock in the morning, the defendant, while having a cigarette on the 2^nd floor staircase, threw a light bud to a jumble of old newspapers on a stair landing, thereby setting fire to it.

4.Through the broken window of the Fire Door, some smoke entered the hallway and drew the attention of a neighbor, who came out and saw the defendant fanning the flame. The neighbor shouted at the defendant, the defendant shouted back in foul language. The neighbor thus ran back to his house to call the police.

5.Soon the neighbor returned to the stairs to check, but then the fire had been put out by the defendant with a pail of water. No one was hurt.

6.The defendant was located and arrested by the later-arrived police. The Defendant frankly admitted his guilt to the Police and he did the same at the first opportunity in court.

Personal background and conviction record

7.The defendant is 21 years old and has Nepalese ethnicity. He could not manage school when he was young and now despite his effort, still has not found any stable employment.

8.The defendant’s mother is working as a waitress and earns about $20,000 a month. She is the sole breadwinner of the family. His father is separated from the family and lives apart. I noticed that his mother was sitting in court in the audience at every hearing.

9.The defendant has had one minor conviction in 2004 when he was 16 years old. That was a theft offence where he was put on probation.

10.The defendant has been taking heroin since last year. The Drug Addiction Treatment Centre Report opines that the defendant is a drug dependent and therefore recommends his admission. The two mental reports, which I have summonsed, reveal no abnormality on his part.

Evaluation

11.Arson is a serious offence, especially when life is endangered. Archbold Hong Kong 2017 states at paragraph 24-24 “…There are no sentencing guideline for arson, but it appears that if no actual injury to other persons is involved, a customary range of between four to six years of imprisonment would be used as a starting point…”.

12.However, the scale of fire in this case was small. From the exhibited photographs in court, I saw that there was only one dune of burned newspapers lying at the center of the stair landing. There was no other flammable object in the immediate vicinity. The fire generated by the burn of the few newspapers was thus containable.  After all, very soon the defendant managed to fetch a pail of water to extinguish it. The risk of spread and spread to the neighboring units and thereby endangering life, though existed, was not substantial.

13.In terms of motive, the defendant held no grudges to anyone in the building. I am sure that he did not mean to hurt anyone, not any residents. He did not use any fire accelerant apart from his lighter and the cigarette bud. His only family, his mother, was still in bed on the 8^th floor. I have no doubt that he loves and cares for her and would in no way let anything hurt her. I believe that the whole incident was a case where a young and a not too sober man in the early morning, while trying to kill his boredom, set a small fire to some trashed paper in front of him, which he managed to put out relatively easily after he was shouted at by a neighbor.

14.Because of these 2 factors, I do not think that deterrence weighs as heavily as rehabilitation in the consideration. I accordingly adopt the recommendation of the report and sentence him to the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre so that he undergoes the right rehabilitation program to eradicate his drug problem.  This is the best way to help him pull his life together and hopefully thereafter he can find some meaning of it. This way shall best serve the interest of the society as well and I so order, with conviction recorded.