HKSAR v. Ejegi Godspower

DCCC703/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 703 OF 2009

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Defendant, you pleaded guilty to one offence, which is Charge 1, of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance, Cap.210. You also pleaded guilty to four offences of obtaining property by deception, those are Charges 4, 7, 8 and 9, and one offence of possession of a false travel document, which is charge 11 the latter being contrary to section 42(2)(c) and (4) of the Immigration Ordinance, the four obtaining by deceptions for the record being contrary to section 17 of the Theft Ordinance.

2.Charges 2, 3, 5, 6 and 10 were ordered to be left on the file and not to be proceeded with without the leave of this court or the Court of Appeal.

3.The facts of the case were as follows. I deal first with Charge 1.

4.Fan Yun-ling (PW1), Lai Yuet-yee (PW2) and Lai Yip-kay (PW3) were the staff of American Express at the 18th Floor, Phase 4, City Plaza, 12 Tai Koo Shing Road. At around 0900 hours on 13 January of this year you approached PW1 and asked for a replacement American Express card in the name of Habib Kairouz. PW1 checked and found that a loss report had indeed been made and a replacement card in that name was ready for collection. You said you were collecting the card but PW1 said an authorisation letter was needed, so you left.

5.You returned at around noon with such a letter authorising Laniel Braimah Kipo to collect the card and purported to be signed by Habib Kairouz. That is Exhibit 1. You also produced a Lesotho passport in the name of Kipo but with your photograph. PW1 released the American Express card, which is Exhibit E2, you signed a receipt and left. You were captured on CCTV.

6.In relation to Charge 4, Kong Pui-yi (PW6) was a member of staff of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Limited at 341 Nathan Road. At around 1330 hours on 13 January she served you and an unknown male who presented E2 to pay for one gold bracelet, one gold necklace, one gold ring, and two Rolex watches, the total amount being $220,512. The transaction was successful and you left.

7.On the afternoon of 17 January you pawned one of the Rolex watches at Tak Wah Pawnshop producing a Lesotho passport and obtaining $42,000.

8.In the afternoon of 19 January you pawned the other Rolex watch for $45,000 at Tai Yick Pawnshop, producing the same passport.

Charge 7

9.Chan Chi-wai (PW9), was a member of staff of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Limited at 149-151 Castle Peak Road, Yuen Long. At around 1350 hours on 14 January PW9 served you and an unknown male. You produced Exhibit 2 to purchase three gold bracelets, one gold necklace and two gold rings for $124,130. You were captured again on CCTV.

Charge 8

10.Monique Wong (PW8), was a member of staff of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Limited at Shop 7, Ground Floor, Bank Central Mall, Nathan Road. At about 1615 hours on 14 January you and an unknown male presented E2 to pay for two gold bracelets, one gold necklace and four gold bars for $223,880. Again, you were captured on CCTV.

Charge 9

11.Yeung Hon-leung (PW11), was a member of staff of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Limited at 625-629 Nathan Road. At around 1500 hours on 15 January this year PW11 served you and an unknown male. You and the unknown male presented E2 to pay $757,440 for 18 gold bars. You were captured again on CCTV and identified at a subsequent identification parade.

Charge 11

12.At around 0900 hours on 25 March, you attended the office of American Express and produced a Zambian passport in the name of Joseph Mubanga in order to attempt to collect an American Express card. The Hong Kong Immigration chop on Exhibit 5 was later found to be forged and the photograph a substitution. On that occasion you were arrested by DPC34550.

13.Habib Kairouz stated he was the owner of the American Express card and had never requested its replacement, nor issued a letter of authorisation to anyone, nor had he authorised anyone to effect illegal transactions.

14.You admitted to one previous conviction, which is of a totally different nature. For the purpose of sentence, I am treating you as a person of ostensibly good character.

15.In mitigation on your behalf Mr Omar told me that you are 30 years of age, educated to secondary level in Nigeria, that you and your brother had fled from Nigeria when your father had been assassinated in 2003 due to his political affiliations. You came to Hong Kong and sought asylum but you were refused by the UNHCR and you were awaiting an application under the Convention Against Torture. Mr Omar told me that you became involved in this scheme because of a promise of a foreign passport and relocation to another country. I have also read and taken into account the letter that you wrote to me.

16.I turn now to the sentence. The card itself is a card without a credit limit and the total loss to American Express is in excess of $1.3 million. Now, for certain, you did not act alone in this enterprise.

17.I did, as I said, treat you as a person of ostensibly clear record having but one previous offence, and that is of a minor assault.

18.Credit card frauds are both prevalent and serious. It is well-established that such offences can only attract custodial sentences of some length. My approach in this case is to view the obtaining of the card and the use of the card as part of a scheme and to sentence for the overall criminality, even though there are five related offences. Obviously the matter relating to the passport stands separate and apart.

19.In respect of Charges 1, 4, 7, 8 and 9, I take as an overall starting point 5 years’ imprisonment - that is 60 months - reduced to 40 months for your plea of guilty.

20.In respect of Charge 11, I take as a starting point 9 months’ imprisonment, reduced to 6 months for your plea of guilty. To apply the principle of totality, 2 months will be served consecutively and 4 months concurrently.

21.Therefore, you will go to prison for a total of 42 months.

22.The 40 months I make it entirely clear on the first five offences are to be served concurrent with each other.