Chiu Kwok-fai v. The Queen

CACC000357/1978

Coram: Briggs, C.J.

Date of Judgment: 13th May, 1978.

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JUDGMENT

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1. The appellant was found guilty of careless driving and fined $500 and disqualified from driving goods vehicles for eighteen months. He appealed against conviction and sentence.

2. He was represented by Mr. R. Tang who urged that the conviction was against the weight of evidence. Everything that could be said in favour of the appellant was eloquently stated but I was not convinced that the magistrate had taken a wrong view of the evidence. In consequence I dismissed the appeal against conviction.

3. The appellant is a professional driver and at the time of the accident was driving a very heavy goods vehicle which was loaded. He has been employed in such work for the past five years. He has only two previous convictions for minor offences. The accident, the subject matter of this case, involved two young children who were badly injured. But the evidence shows that they were at least partly to blame for what occurred.

4. This offence does not attract a mandatory sentence of disqualification. In my view, the eighteen months passed is excessive. Taking everything into consideration I will allow the appeal against sentence to the extent that the period of disqualification is to be reduced to six months. The period to date from the date of the magistrate's sentence.

Representation:

R. Tang (Gallant Y.T. Ho & Co.) for Appellant

Kitchell for the Crown/Respondent