BabelCite

HKSAR v. Phan Thi-binh

Read the full judgment text of HCMA 66/2004 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 12 February 2004.

1. On 2 December 2003 the appellant, after pleading guilty at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court to an offence of 'Remaining in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director of Immigration after having landed unlawfully in Hong Kong' (contrary to section 38(1)(b) of the Immigration Ordinance, Cap. 115), was sentenced to a term of eight months' imprisonment.

Case No.HCMA 66/2004
Court
High Court CFI
Date12 Feb 2004
Judge—
Case Document
100%Judiciary

HCMA000066/2004

HCMA66/2004

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 66 OF 2004

(ON APPEAL FROM KTCC19339/2003)

---------------------------

BETWEEN
HKSAR Respondent
AND
PHAN THI-BINH Appellant

---------------------------

Coram : Hon Jackson J in Court

Date of Hearing : 12 February 2004

Date of Judgment : 12 February 2004

-----------------------

J U D G M E N T

-----------------------

1.On 2 December 2003 the appellant, after pleading guilty at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court to an offence of 'Remaining in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director of Immigration after having landed unlawfully in Hong Kong' (contrary to section 38(1)(b) of the Immigration Ordinance, Cap. 115), was sentenced to a term of eight months' imprisonment.

2.The appellant appeals against that sentence saying that it is too severe and that she wishes to be reunited with her family in Vietnam as soon as possible.

3.What the magistrate had to say about the matter was this :

"The defendant pleaded guilty to unlawfully remaining in Hong Kong. She had come here before and had overstayed by three months. That resulted in a sentence of one month's imprisonment which was suspended for two years from the 30th July 2003. Thus she was in breach of the suspended sentence.

She was a Vietnamese woman of 23 who was said to have come here to collect a debt. She had a young child in Vietnam. Her mitigation was her plea of guilty for which I gave her full credit.

I imposed an exceptionally lenient sentence for the fresh case, well below the conventional term for this offence. I activated the suspended sentence concurrently although it could legitimately have been made consecutive."

4.It is apparent from the mitigation advanced before the magistrate that the appellant surrendered herself to the police after she had collected the debt referred to. That was plainly a factor which the magistrate took fully into account when imposing such a lenient sentence.

5.There is nothing in this appeal and it is dismissed.

(C.G. Jackson)
Judge of the Court of First Instance
High Court

Representation:

Mr Derek Lai, SCG of the Department of Justice, for the Respondent

Appellant in person