HKSAR v. Siu Tin Yeung

DCCC175/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 175 OF 2009

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Before:   Deputy District Judge M. Chow

Date: 26 March 2009 at 11.45 am

Offence:  Burglary, etc. (入屋犯法等罪項) 

Reasons for Sentence

1. Would defendant please stand up and I will deliver reasons of sentence.

2. You have pleased guilty to two charges before me.  The first one is burglary charge and the second one is illegal remaining. 

3. You admitted to Summary of Facts which says that PW1 and 2 left their balcony door unlocked in the evening of 1 December 2008.  They woke up the next morning and found the items mentioned in the 1st charge were missing.  A report was made and fingerprints were also lifted.  The defendant was arrested by the police on 5 December 2008 and found the left palm of the defendant matched with the mark lifted at the balcony door of PW1 and 2’s flat. 

4. The defendant admitted under caution that he sneaked to Hong Kong.  The criminal record shows the defendant has been brought to the court on three occasions:  in 1998, 1999 and 2002.  Two convictions relate to the 1st charge.  The last conviction, a burglary charge, was in 1999 and there were four convictions of illegal remaining; the sentence in 2002 for illegal remaining for 15 months was indeed very generous to you.

5. Now, in mitigation I am told that you are still single.  Your father passed away, mother works as a farmer and not well.  You wish to come to Hong Kong to find a job in the construction sites to earn more money as you previously made $1,500 a month as a delivery worker in China was not enough for you. 

6. In passing sentence I have taken into account of all the mitigating factors before me and that Charge 1 involved a domestic premises, and therefore for Charge 1 the proper starting point is one of 3 years.  I reduce to 24 months to reflect your guilty plea.  In respect of Charge 2 the starting point is 27 months reduced to 18 months. 

7. As you are a repeated offender, a sentence of deterrence is therefore appropriate and Charge 1 and 2 to run consecutively, and therefore it arrives at a total sentence of 42 months.