HKSAR v. Woon Tsz Chung, Justin

HCCC 224/2018

[2018] HKCFI 2801

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 224 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Defendant, on 23 July 2018 at the Eastern Magistracy, you pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery. As a result of your plea of guilty, you were committed here to the Court of First Instance for sentence.

It was on 28 October 2017 at about 2.50 am that you robbed a couple, a male named Mr Chen and a female, Madam Li, aged 32 and 45 respectively, outside the Shek Wu Hui Bus Depot at San Wan Road, Sheung Shui, New Territories. During the course of this robbery, you had used a knife. Mr Chen was the victim of the 1st charge. He had stolen from him a sling bag, a wallet, HK$2,000, 3,000 renminbi, some keys, an Octopus card and some bank cards. His partner, Madam Li, had stolen from her a handbag, a wallet, a mobile phone, about HK$500 and 100 renminbi and some keys.

On the early morning in question, the couple had just finished playing mahjong at their friend’s place and were on their way home. Whilst outside the bus depot, Mr Chen, out of the blue felt pain to his right cheek, caused by something sharp. It was you holding a knife. You told him not to move and to put his things down. At that time, Chen realised he was being robbed. He immediately dashed forward, shouting for help. He ran for about 200 metres before he felt that his sling bag was snatched away, the contents of which I have mentioned already, as per the 1st charge.

Madam Li, after hearing your voice, saw Chen suddenly run away. She saw you chasing after Chen, holding a one‑foot long knife in your hand. Soon after she lost sight of Chen, you quickly returned to her. Terrified, she started running away. She however fell after running a short distance and dropped her Gucci handbag on to the ground. At that time she saw that you were wearing a surgical mask. You picked up her bag and left the scene with it. The contents of her handbag was what I have mentioned earlier, were the items in Charge 2.

A report was made to the police and a police officer, disguising himself as a debtor, made a call to Madam Li’s lost mobile phone at about 11.14 am that same day. He claimed he wanted to repay a loan. It appears that you picked up the call and arranged a meeting with this officer.

At about 1 pm, the officer arranged to meet you at Ha Pak Tsuen, Sheung Shui Wai, Jockey Club Road in Sheung Shui. When the officer approached you, you told him to give you the money. It was at that moment the operation turned overt. Other police officers appeared and you tried to run away. You were, however, captured and at that time, you had Madam Li’s mobile phone in your hand.

You were arrested and under caution you admitted you had robbed Mr Chen and Madam Li. You said you robbed them because you were unemployed and had no money.

A house search was conducted on your residence and officers found Mr Chen’s sling bag and Madam Li’s handbag. You were subsequently interviewed and in your video-recorded interview, under caution, you claimed that earlier that day you were driving near the bus depot on the Sai Wan Ho Road, looking for targets to rob. You were wearing a cap and a surgical mask. You had with you a fruit knife about one- foot long.

You saw Mr Chen and Madam Li and approached them and held the knife to Mr Chen’s neck. Despite the struggle with Mr Chen, you managed to snatch his property. You then turned to Madam Li. She tried to run away but fell and you snatched her handbag. After robbing the couple, you ran back to your car, left the scene, but discarded the knife and top you were wearing at a bush nearby.

You claimed you had already spent all the cash stolen and you accepted that the mobile phone found on you and the two bags recovered from your residence, were the stolen property from this robbery.

Medical examination on Mr Chen found that he suffered from a superficial skin cut wound of 8 centimetres long over his right cheek and it was stitched. And Madam Li sustained scratches on one of her palms when she fell down whilst running away from you.

Defendant, you are 28 years of age, born in Hong Kong. You have four previous convictions, all of which are related to possession of dangerous drugs. The last two of these convictions in 2014 and 15, you were sentenced to a drug addiction treatment centre.

You were born in Hong Kong and completed primary school in Hong Kong but then went to study in the UK until Grade 12. You then returned to Hong Kong in 2010 and you had commenced working as an estate agent, but maintained that job for only one year and thereafter, you have been unable to maintain or sustain permanent employment.

Mr Anthony Yuen, your counsel, has informed this court that the reason for your unstable employment and the cause of you committing this offence, is principally your long‑term addiction to drugs.

You had, in fact, first dabbled with drugs when you were in the UK in Grade 11 and when you came back to Hong Kong, you continued to take drugs. You had hidden your drug dependency from your parents until you were convicted in 2013.

Your father, who is a retired Customs and Excise Officer, and your mother, tried to assist you to rid yourself of your dependency, but was unsuccessful as you continued to associate with your drug addict friends.

Mr Yuen stated that it is of no surprise that you are unable to keep a steady employment, because of your drug dependency. However although you were unemployed for much of the time, you did not have any financial difficulties as your father was able to support you.

Mr Yuen has submitted that the reason why you committed this very grave and serious offence is because in the early evening or early morning that day, you had taken drugs and you had the urge to commit this crime. He informs me that you had no intention to injure Mr Chen. It was perhaps accidental and you happened to come across Mr Chen and Madam Li randomly.

Mr Yuen recognises that the leading authority for robbery with a knife is that of Mo Kwong Sang v The Queen [1981] HKLR 610. He asks for the two charges, sentences to run concurrent to each other, as it was committed in one incident.

Defendant, I have also received letters, character reference letters and your neighbours speak of you as a polite and gentle youngster and a filial and obedient boy. It appears that your life spiralled out of control as a result of your dependency on drugs.

As I am sure you have been well advised, robbery is a very serious offence and it carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Although you said you had the urge to commit this serious offence after taking drugs, which as Mr Yuen himself says is quite understandable, you did commit these robberies. They were planned and premeditated.

You picked up, I am told, the fruit knife from the kitchen of your home and drove your sister’s car out, randomly looking for people to rob. At that time of the morning, at about 2.50, it would be clear that the streets would be quiet with very few people around and it could be remote for anybody to assist any targeted person by yourself.

You had taken a knife with you, clearly to threaten the victims, at least. Whilst you say you did not intend to inflict any injury on Mr Chen, it is clear that you did inflict injury and, more particularly, to a vulnerable part of the body, that is his face, although you say you had put the knife at his neck. The injury sustained, although superficial, was 8 centimetres long, of which Mr Chen needed stitches, which I am told were eight in total.

It requires little imagination to appreciate the fear that Mr Chen and Ms Li must have been put through. At that time, you were wearing a mask and a cap, clearly masking your identity.

The items stolen were quite significant in that there was approximately $5,000 cash from Mr Chen, a Gucci bag from Madam Li and about $600‑odd.

As you well know, this is a serious offence which requires an immediate term of imprisonment. In Mo Kwong Sang, the Court of Appeal laid out that for robbery with a knife, the starting point after trial, would be one of 5 years’ imprisonment.

In this case, defendant, in respect of Mr Chen, you had used this knife and inflicted an injury on his face, which required sutures. Had you been convicted after trial on this Charge 1, an appropriate sentence would be one of 7 years’ imprisonment.

For Charge 2, Madam Li had tried to run away from you when she saw you holding a knife in your hand, and as a result of which she fell and injured her palm. On Charge 2, had you been convicted after trial, an appropriate sentence would be one of 6 years’ imprisonment.

In sentencing you, however, I look at the principle of totality. You had targeted two victims, physical violence was used, it was in the middle of the night in a remote area and the injuries received by the victims, and given that these were two different victims, I consider a sentence in totality of 8 years’ imprisonment, had you been convicted after trial. Your strongest mitigating factor is, of course, your very early plea of guilty and you warrant the one‑third discount. In the circumstances, you will be sentence to 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.

For Charge 1, giving you the one‑third discount, you shall be sentenced to 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.

For Charge 2, you will be sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

To reflect the term of 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment, I order 8 months of Charge 2, to run consecutive to Charge 1, and the remaining terms to run concurrent.