HKSAR v. Ho Kim Lui

DCCC1181/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1181 OF 2009

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Reasons for Sentence

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1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to the charge of wounding with intent, contrary to section 17(a) of the Offences against the Person Ordinance.

2. You admitted that on 21 August 2009 at the staircase of No.B, 30th floor, Kam Pak House, Hong Pak Court, Lam Tin, you unlawfully and maliciously wounded Wong Shui-oi with intent to do her grievous bodily harm.

3. On that day in question the victim, Miss Wong, left her flat at about 7.20 am.  She walked to the lift lobby on the 30th floor.  She saw a paper stuck on the lift button with the following words in Chinese “Lift out of order.  Walk downstairs.”  At that time you were leaning against the wall of the lift lobby.  She recognized you as her neighbour living on the same floor.  Miss Wong did not talk to you but walked towards the staircase B to walk downstairs. 

4. When she was about to reach the fire exit door of the staircase, she suddenly felt a heavy blow on her head from behind.  She immediately turned around and saw you holding a dumbbell.  Without saying a word, you used the dumbbell to hit Miss Wong’s head again.  Feeling pain she fended your attack with her hands.  You however grabbed her right hand, when she tried to run away.  Miss Wong struggled with you and in doing so she felt that her right ring finger was cut by the bunch of keys she was holding in her hand.  After a short struggle, you fled through the fire door exit as she raised hue.

5. Residents on the 30th floor heard her shouting for help and came out from their flats.  They saw she was bleeding on her head.  Police were called and she was sent to the hospital for medical treatment.

6. The police found a dumbbell weighing 8 pounds near a rubbish bin at the staircase A of the 31st floor of the building.  They also found the piece of paper that said “Lift out of order.” 

7. Subsequently you were located and arrested.  You admitted that you had used a dumbbell to attack Miss Wong from behind and then dumped the dumbbell at the staircase.  You further admitted that you had written the Chinese words on the piece of paper at home in the morning and stuck it on the lift lobby.  You said you felt very confused and had no idea as to why you had attacked Miss Wong. 

8. Later in a video-recorded interview on the same day you admitted much the same but also said that you believed you attacked Madam Wong whom you knew as one of your neighbours because you were under pressure arising from your study and family.  You had however not suffered any mental illness before.

9. Miss Wong suffered two lacerations on her head and a laceration on her right finger.  As a result, she received six stitches on her head and seven stitches on her right ring finger.  She was discharged on the same day after receiving medical treatment.

10. Prior to you pleading guilty in this case, the court had called for psychiatric reports.  The reports were that you were not suffering from any mental illness but that you had considerable personality problems and had an adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct.  It was said that your behaviour in the present offence could be construed as a mild adaptive way of displacement of emotions like anger or frustration. 

11. Mr Mui, your solicitor, has mitigated very thoroughly and fully on your behalf.  I am impressed by what he has said to the court.  He has urged the court to place you in a rehabilitation centre.

12. You are 19 years of age and are of clear record.  I have called before I sentence you today a rehabilitation centre report, a detention centre report and a training centre report.  These reports are all ready before me, and the psychological report has also been prepared, and I have read all the contents of the reports.  Mr Mui has also referred me to various parts of the reports.

13. As I said to you on the last occasion, and as Mr Mui rightly concedes, this is indeed a very, very serious offence.  This was an attack out of the blue for no apparent reason and a very serious attack on a person’s head.  The head of a person can be considered the most sensitive part of anybody’s body.  It is fortunate, as I see it, that she has not suffered from any permanent disability.  She received stitches to her head for the wound, and as I see from her letter which I will refer to later, she has obviously been affected psychologically and psychiatrically. 

14. She was a neighbour who did you no wrong and who was quite innocently walking along the corridor.  You attacked her for no apparent reason.  Clearly, this offence is one punishable by an immediate custodial sentence.  There is no other option open for this type of offence.  As Mr Mui has said, for an adult, you will be looking at at least 3 years’ imprisonment as a starting point after trial.

15. You are a young offender, and under section 109A(1) of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, it provides that the court should not sentence a person aged between 16 to 20 to imprisonment unless there is no other method of dealing with the person which is appropriate and must of course however take into account the seriousness of the offence.

16. The reason, as I see, for you committing this offence is because of the pressure and stress that you felt from your parents hoping that you would do well in your academic studies, and unfortunately you did not do as you expected and did not do well enough in your matriculation exams so as to gain a place at university.  This pent up stress, as Mr Mui rightly puts, built up within you until such time as it exploded.  Your explosion was that act of violence which obviously is not a correct way to deal with your stress.

17. Your mother’s letter to the court, I think, sums up what and how you have felt.  She bravely admits that it was perhaps because of her pressure on you to study well, study hard and not giving you sufficient finances and perhaps punishing you for not doing well, and not talking to you which contributed to your stress and pressure.  Your brother is an achiever.  He had managed to get to university.  Perhaps unfortunately you were compared to him and disappointingly, you did not do as well as he did.  For that reason, too, you have felt under pressure. 

18. Your brother has also written a letter stating that he agrees and is also of the view that it was the pressure of your parents to study hard that caused you to become in this state of emotion.  I have read the many letters written by your fellow schoolmates and teacher who are now themselves either at university and or are very close friends of yours.  They speak very, very highly of you.

19. These letters I feel are written with honesty and with great respect for you.  Most of them have visited you in jail and have seen your predicament and have asked this court to treat you leniently.  They have said how much you have contributed to your school as a student, how you worked hard and have been a very law-abiding citizen, and have even had an influence on them in a way when they were going through trouble and have sought advice from you.

20. I have also received your letter which shows to me that you are deeply remorseful and are shameful and of course realize that this has caused a high detrimental impact on yourself, your family, your friends, and you frankly recognize that in view of the commission of this offence, you will lose your liberty and part of your youth.  You have shown that you understand the importance of abiding the law and recognize your wrongdoing but have told me that you wish now to learn from your wrongdoing and deal with your stress release.  After you have served your term you would like to serve the society. 

21. These are, as I said, glowing character references and letters of mitigation on your behalf.  The most revealing of them all of course is the letter that your solicitor Mr Mui read to me by the victim.  Despite this very serious injury caused on her, she has in fact forgiven you.  You have written her a letter, she says, from your heart to apologize and although this incident has affected her life seriously in that she has had to receive treatment such as psychotherapy treatment, psychiatric treatment, psychological treatment, she is willing to forgive you and hope that you will be a constructive person and obedient to your parents.  She has surprisingly asked the court to give you a lenient sentence.  

22. The matters that I should take into account in sentencing you is of course the seriousness of the offence, your remorse, your background, your understanding of how and what to do in the future.  Clearly, you are weak in thinking and self-control.  You have been defensive and cautious in disclosing your problems to others.  You have weak conflict resolution skills.  You have weak emotion and stress management.  These are all matters of course which led to your commission of this offence. 

23. You have a very supportive family and obviously, as I see it, very wide and supportive friends.  The report written by the officer at the rehabilitation unit is a good report.  You have been polite and frank and co-operative in attitude.  You have observed the rules, shown positive response towards counselling and respected the staff of the correctional institution.   You have shown remorse also for your misbehaviour.  This is definitely out of character.  You are not a wayward child.  You do not have late night activities.  You have not abused drugs.  You had performed academically well until your sixth form.  You did excel in your extra-curricular activities.  You were a good sportsman such as a footballer.  Generally you received good performance by teachers at school. 

24. It appears to me that the likelihood of you re-offending is low.  I must weigh up here punishment together with rehabilitation.  In my mind, the most appropriate sentence for you is one of a rehabilitation order, and that is one that will help you to deal particularly with your emotional and stress problems.

25. Rehabilitation centre is not a light option.  It is a period to which you will lose your liberty, still considered as a punishment.  But I weigh that with the rehabilitative elements.  It will, for example, help you develop socially acceptable behaviour, respect for the law, most importantly, equip you with social and other skills with the assistance of a psychologist, and prepare you to integrate back into society upon your discharge.

26. Your solicitor, Mr Mui, tells me that you have accepted that you will go to rehabilitation centre, and in those circumstances I sentence you to rehabilitation centre.