Secretary for Justice v. Lam Ping Cheung

Read the full judgment text of CACC 248/2006 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 14 July 2009.

1. The application for certification of points of law said to be of great and general importance under section 32(2) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484, is dismissed. Essentially, it is said that this Court, in its majority judgment handed down on 21 May 2009, failed to take sufficiently into account the principle of double jeopardy when increasing the sentence of the Applicant in a review of sentence.This principle (or, perhaps more accurately, practice) is one that has

Cites 3 cases

Case No.CACC 248/2006
Court
Court of Appeal
Date14 Jul 2009
Judge
Case Document
100%Judiciary

CACC 248/2006
CAAR 8/2006

CACC 248/2006

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 248 OF 2006

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NO. 298 OF 2005)

_________________________

CAAR 8/2006

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

APPLICATION FOR REVIEW NO. 8 OF 2006

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NO. 298 OF 2005)

_________________________

  IN THE MATTER of an application under Section 32(2) of the Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap.484)
  and
  IN THE MATTER of the decision of the Court of Appeal dated 21 May 2009

_________________________

BETWEEN

  SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE Respondent
  and  
  LAM PING-CHEUNG (林炳昌), Applicant
  (also known as ANDREW LAM)  

_________________________

Before : Hon Ma CJHC, Tang VP & Wright J in Court

Date of Hearing : 14 July 2009

Date of Judgment: 14 July 2009

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J U D G M E N T

______________

Hon Ma CJHC :

1.The application for certification of points of law said to be of great and general importance under section 32(2) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484, is dismissed. Essentially, it is said that this Court, in its majority judgment handed down on 21 May 2009, failed to take sufficiently into account the principle of double jeopardy when increasing the sentence of the Applicant in a review of sentence.This principle (or, perhaps more accurately, practice) is one that has been applied in these courts where appropriate in a number of cases : Attorney General v Wong Kwok Wai [1991] 2 HKLR 384; Secretary for Justice v Tseung Mang Ka [2001] 2 HKLRD 115.

2.The complaint made by the Applicant is really that the Court of Appeal has given no discount, not that there is any doubt that the principle exists in appropriate cases.It is also to be observed that this point was not advanced by the Applicant in the submissions presented to this Court in the review proceedings.In the circumstances, it is inappropriate to grant the Certificate.

(Geoffrey Ma) (Robert Tang) (Alan Wright)
Chief Judge, High Court Vice President Judge of the Court of First Instance

Mr Roger Beresford, instructed by Department of Justice for the Respondent

Mr Graham Harris & Mr Benson Tsoi, instructed by Messrs Pang Wan & Choi for the Applicant