HKSAR v. Wong Hon Sze, Henry

Before

Deputy High Court Judge Line

Date:

12 February 2009 at 9.54 am

Present:

Ms Anna Y K Lai, SPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Selwyn So Kai-ming, instructed by the Legal Aid Department, for the Accused

Offence:

Robbery (搶劫)

COURT:

I have to sentence you on your plea of guilty to an offence of robbery. You walked into a bank carrying a rucksack and a box. You gave the teller a note. It read, "Robbery. Don't cry out. A pistol and a bomb are in the rucksack. Take out money quick." She immediately but discreetly activated the alarm. She gave you $85,000.00. You ran off. The rucksack contained harmless materials. There was no presence of a bomb or anything like it.

You are a 47-year-old man whom I shall treat as having a clear record, even though there is a minor blemish on it of probation quite some time ago. It worked for all your life until recently when you found yourself unemployed. You had no money, no income; you were in debt. And your counsel submits on your behalf that this was done in desperation and that basically you were desperate rather than being wicked. He submits basically that, other than this, you are a decent man and this was an isolated incident in which you had lost your self-control and sense of proportion.

In my judgment, those submissions are well-founded and one of the ways in which I come to form that judgment is this: I look at how you behaved when you were caught after a chase. You said, "I cannot run anymore. Just call the police. I'm prepared to be caught," and you stood still and waited for the police as you were requested to.

In those circumstances, I will take a starting-point which reflects those matters which I have just related. In court, we have looked at some previous similar cases and, taking what has been said in them and the general approach of the courts to conduct like this, I shall take a starting-point in your case of 8 years' imprisonment.

You pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court. You earn a one-third discount. Consequently, that would give a sentence of 5 years and 4 months' imprisonment and that is the sentence I shall pass in your case.

Let me just add this: even though your case attracts the label "armed" or "a threat of armed robbery in a bank", the circumstances in which such crime can be committed vary considerably. You did this by yourself but if you had been part of a gang or a seriously committed professional criminal syndicate trying to rob a bank and using the threat of violence to do so, the sentence would have been much greater.

But that is not the picture here and I treat you on the basis that was submitted for by your counsel. So, in those circumstances, the sentence is 5 years and 4 months.