Read the full judgment text of CAAR 000010/1990 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 29 April 1992 before Silke VP, Power JA, Penlington JA.
Criminal law – riot – sentencing – Public Order Ordinance, Cap. 245 s.19 – Vietnamese Detention Centre – deterrence – appropriate custodial sentence for riot after trial should be 5 years, with credit for guilty plea – sentences of 9 months found manifestly inadequate – no order made due to delay and respondents having left territory. Criminal law – dangerous drugs – trafficking – heroin sentencing – No. 3 and No. 4 heroin – notional conversion factor – R v. Cheng Yeung [1989] 2 HKLR 258 binding – Chan Chi-ming (1979) HKLR 491 tariff of 8 to 12 years for very substantial quantities above 1000 grammes – sentencing judge erred in refusing to follow Cheng Yeung. Criminal law – Attorney General's review of sentence – discount on review – The Attorney General v. Wong Kwok-wai (1991) 2 HKLR 384 – factors include proximity to end of sentence, substantial increase over original sentence, delay, and erroneous Crown submissions at first instance – Crown error contributing to sentencing judge's mistake is a proper factor. Drugs sentencing – Tse Ka Wah: 220.54g mixture / 158.78g morphine salts, converted to 3113.33g of No. 3 heroin; starting point 10 years justified (international export element), discount applied, final sentence 6 years substituted for original 5 years. Drugs sentencing – Chan Chu-ming: 139.52g mixture / 132.98g morphine salts, converted to 2841.4g of No. 3 heroin; starting point 10 years justified, discount applied, final sentence 5 years substituted for original 4 years.
Legal issues: Appropriate sentence level for conviction of riot · Whether the sentencing judge erred in not applying the Cheng Yeung conversion factor for heroin sentencing · Whether a discount should be given from sentences imposed on review
Outcome: In AR 13/1990, no order was made in respect of the individual riot sentences due to the great delays and because some respondents had left the territory, but the court gave general guidance on riot sentencing. In AR 10/1990, both review applications were granted; Tse Ka Wah's 5-year sentence was set aside and replaced with 6 years' imprisonment, and Chan Chu-ming's 4-year sentence was set aside and replaced with 5 years' imprisonment.