HKSAR v. Law Ka Ho

DCCC 617/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 617 OF 2009

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Reasons for Sentence

1.The defendant pleaded guilty to 5 counts of theft, 1 count of robbery and 1 count of inviting others to become members of a triad society.

2.In gist, the defendant acted as a local bully. Over a period of about a month on 5 different occasions, in between March and April 2009, the defendant took phones, game machines and octopus cards off youngsters under different excuses.

3.On one occasion the defendant used force on a boy by grabbing the boy by his neck in demanding the surrender of his phone which gave rise to the robbery charge.

4.The defendant told the boys he was a follower of a triad group in North Point and he invited the boys to join and follow him. This is the charge of inviting others to become members of a triad group.

5.Details of the individual incidents were given in the summary of facts.

6.The defendant was arrested on 17 April 2009. He admitted all the above offences under caution.

7.The defendant was only aged 19. He acted as a typical local bully who induced the boys to take up triad membership. He either forced them into surrendering their properties or took away their belongings on different pretexts or by force.

8.Born and brought up in a broken family, the defendant does not seem to enjoy the usual upbringing expected of a healthy family. His father worked in the mainland most of the time whilst his mother left Hong Kong for the States after divorcing the father of the defendant when the defendant was only 10 years old.

9.Since 2004 the defendant was drawn into a group of triad related peers. The defendant started abusing drugs since 2005. He had been sentenced to probation for selling copyright infringing items. For the loan he owed to the drugs traffickers after a bulk of drugs was lost, the defendant formally terminated his father and son relationship with his father as a condition for obtaining finance from his father to repay his loan to the traffickers. He changed his family name from CHUI to LAW to follow his Godfather after severing legal ties with his father.

10.The probationary supervision does not seem to have much of a reformatory effect on him. The defendant seems to go back to the same old life style, if not heading towards a greater black hole. Allegedly he had now acquired about 30 followers and he lived on quick money obtained from illicit activities.

11.Tragic as it may be for his miserable up-bringing and his lack of orientation as a result of his unique family situation, this court is at a loss to know what to do to help steer this 19 years old back to the right track after he has been submerged in his triad sub-culture for 5 years. The training centre is unwilling to take him on account of his drug addiction. If there were other options open to him, I would be prepared to consider them for his young age and his unfortunate upbringing.

12.With his background, the only option seems suitable for him now is a custodial term; with which, I hope the loss of freedom would have donned upon him the need for change.

13.For the 7 charges for which he has pleaded guilty before me, I impose the following terms:-

(i) Theft (charges 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7): a term of 9 months for each of the 5 charges;

(ii) Robbery (charge 6): a term of 2 years; and

(iii) Inviting others to become members of a triad society (charge 2) in which he invited 3 boys: a term of 15 months.

14.For his pleas of guilty indicating remorse, I order 1/3 reduction on all terms. Taking totality into consideration, I do order the sentences to be served in the following manner:-

(i) Theft (charges 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7) a term of 6 months (2/3 of 9 months) for each of the 5 charges; the terms for charge 1 & charge 3 as well as for charge 4 & charge 5 are to be served concurrently between the respective two charges; 5 months of the concurrent terms of charge 4 & charge 5 to be served concurrently with charges 1 & 3 leaving a balance of 1 month to be served consecutively; and 5 months of 7^th charge to be served concurrently with the terms of charges 1, 3, 4 & 5 leaving a balance of 1 month to be served consecutively. The total duration for all 5 charges of theft results in a cumulative term of 8 months.

(ii) Robbery (charge 6): a term of 16 months (2/3 of 2 years); and 6 months of the robbery charge to be served concurrently with charges 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7, leaving a balance of 10 months to be served consecutively.

(iii) Inviting others to become triad members (charge 2): a term of 10 months (2/3 of 15 months); of which 4 months to be served concurrently with the other charges, leaving a balance of 6 months to be served consecutively.

15.The cumulative terms for all 7 charges is a total of 2 years.