CRIMINAL CASE NO. 290 OF 2008
COURT: Ho Kwong-wah, stand up.
Ho Kwong-wah, you have pleaded guilty to committing a very serious criminal offence. The offence of assault with intent to rob carries life imprisonment as its maximum penalty.
You are lucky in this case that your victim was not seriously injured. The man you attacked with an iron bar seems to have had a very lucky escape.
I accept this was an attack - as your counsel, Mr De Boinville, says - committed possibly on the spur of the moment and while you were suffering from the effects of alcohol and amphetamines. I accept that this is not what is sometimes called a “head bashing case,” where a robber, in full possession of his faculties, deliberately plans to render his victim unconscious by a severe blow to the head before robbing him.
Had this been a “head bashing case” you would have been looking at a very long prison sentence, because I would have had in mind an after-trial starting point sentence of at least 8 years’ imprisonment.
I note that you have a very extensive criminal record. It includes a previous conviction for robbery, several convictions for theft, as well as many convictions for possession of dangerous drugs. I am not, however, aggravating your sentence just because you have a very bad criminal record.
Your mitigation lies in the fact that you pleaded guilty before the trial started. Because of that you are entitled to a substantial reduction in the sentence you would have otherwise received.
As I have said, this is not a “head bashing case” in the sense that the victim was targeted some time before and the attack committed by a man in full possession of his faculties. However, befuddled though you may have been, you were fully aware of what you were doing. You intended to attack the man with the iron bar and you intended, if possible, to rob him.
Had this matter gone to trial, had you been found guilty by a jury after pleading not guilty, I would have sentenced you to 7 years’ imprisonment. Because of your plea of guilty - and I accept that it indicates a degree of remorse - I am reducing that sentence by one-third.
Your sentence, therefore, for this offence of assault with intent to rob is one of 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.