HKSAR v. Sze Tak Yin

HCCC294/2008

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 294 OF 2008

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Before   DHCJ Toh

Date:    25 February 2009 at 9.43 am

Offence:  Robbery (搶劫)

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

COURT:  Defendant, please stand.

You had pleaded guilty to one count of robbery, contrary to section 10(1) and (2) of the Theft Ordinance, Cap. 210.

The facts that you have admitted to were that you, together with your friend, the 1st defendant in the case, had gone to the shop of the victim at about 1 am in the morning, whereupon D1 used a brick to hit the scalp of the victim, and took away his money.  The 1st defendant then walked into the shop, after hitting the head of the victim, and snatched the coin box containing approximately HK$1,300.

Subsequently, the victim was taken to hospital, where he suffered abrasions, wounds on his cheek and scalp, and received 11 stitches on his scalp.

You were arrested on 22 July and a cautioned interview was obtained, whereupon you had admitted to participation in this robbery, and you also admitted that you collected $400 as part of your share.

You are aged 16 now and at the time of the robbery you were 15 years 10 months.  In mitigation, Mr So detailed a background of a young man who had enjoyed the love of his mother and family and support of his family, but chose to mix with bad peers, and thus was led into a life of drugs and crime.  There is a glimmer of hope in that, according to Mr So, you had confessed your crime to your mother, who then told you to surrender to the police.

For offences of this type of robbery, youth is not an important factor in mitigation.  It has always been the case that this type of offence is so serious that normally, the courts have to pass a deterrent sentence and send the offender to jail.

Your mother has written a very touching letter to the court.  It demonstrates, apart from anything else, that she deeply loves you and will support you in the future.

I therefore took the unusual step in a case of this kind to call for a training centre report and a probation officer’s background report.  You had committed an offence of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 and was sentenced to detention centre in November last year.  I understand that the facts were that you had consensual sexual intercourse with your girlfriend, but unfortunately she was under 16, and she became pregnant, and that is why her parents reported the matter to the police.  So this clearly is quite a different offence from the present one.

In the training centre report, the officer had noted that when you were sent to the detention centre, you made steady progress after intensive counselling.  The officer had recommended that you are fit for detention in a training centre, and is of the opinion that the disciplinary training, together with educational and vocational assistance, is beneficial to you.

Now, this is going to be the last chance that you will ever get in your life.  If you do not take full advantage of this, then when you come back to court you will expect to be punished for your offences as you would an adult.  This is an unusual step that I am taking for an offence of this nature, and that is because I accept that you were led astray by the 1st defendant in this case, and you now have to take responsibility for your actions.

So I consider therefore that in this particular case, because of the hopeful opinion expressed by the probation officer and also the intake officer of the Correctional Services, I am going to offer you this chance and send you to a training centre.

So you  must not disappoint your grandmother and your mother.  So you are sentenced to a training centre.