HKSAR v. Tian Zhibo

DCCC1345/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1345 OF 2009

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Reasons for Sentence

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1. The defendant has pleaded guilty to three offences of burglary.  He has agreed to the facts and I have convicted him of those offences accordingly. 

2. The facts show that the first burglary was committed on 31 October 2006 when a handbag’s contents were stolen from a flat in Tsuen Wan.  The handbag and its contents were taken from the flat but the handbag was subsequently abandoned; the contents were removed.

3. The items taken from the handbag included identity documents, cash, a mobile phone and credit cards. 

4. The other two burglaries of the 2nd and 3rd charges occurred on the same day, that is 8 November 2009, at Houses B and D, 31 Barker Road on the Peak.

5. The defendant was found outside this property acting furtively at 5.40 in the morning.  On searches he was found to be in possession of $9,810 in cash, a necklace and a digital camera.  The defendant led the police officers to a nearby tree where in a black bag two mobile phones and a notebook computer were found. 

6. In respect of the burglary at House No.B, the defendant in fact stole cash of $10,000, one sun glasses, a couple of mobile phones, a battery, a digital camera and a necklace.  And in respect of House D, that is the 3rd charge, the defendant stole a notebook computer, two mobile phones and some foreign currencies. 

7. The defendant eventually admitted committing all three burglaries in a cautioned interview.

8. All the burglaries must be classified as domestic burglaries.  And these Charges 2 and 3 were certainly committed at the time when persons could have been in the premises.  

9. Now, the defendant is from Hunan.  He is 31 years old and single and of a clear record.  He has been working in Shenzhen.  He had lost his job and encountered some financial difficulties.  This apparently resulted out of flooding in his native place.  He also supports his 80-year-old mother who lives in Hunan. 

10. In mitigation the defendant says he is remorseful and asks for leniency. 

11. The starting point for a domestic burglary is normally 3 years’ imprisonment.  All three of these charges involve domestic burglaries.  The value of the items stolen in all three burglaries is not very high.  There is no reason in this case to depart from the normal sentence.  So I will take a starting point of sentence in respect of each charge of 3 years’ imprisonment. 

12. The defendant is entitled to a discount for his plea of guilty of one-third on each charge.  So the actual sentence imposed on each charge will be as follows: on Charge 1, 2 years’ imprisonment; Charge 2, 2 years’ imprisonment; and Charge 3, 2 years’ imprisonment. 

13. In this case there are three burglaries in total, and the first one committed some 3 years before the other two which committed on the same day.  I must consider the overall totality of sentence and adjust the individual sentences accordingly by considering whether they should run consecutively or concurrently. 

14. I consider that the overall total sentence for these three burglaries should be 39 months’ imprisonment.  I will achieve this by ordering that the 2nd and 3rd charges run concurrently to each other, but 15 months of those charges, that is Charges 2 and 3, run consecutively to Charge 1, and the balance to be served concurrently, thereby giving the overall total of 39 months’ imprisonment.