HKSAR v. Leong Kam Io
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DCCC 694/2010 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO. 694 OF 2010 ----------------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------------------ Reasons for Sentence ------------------------------------------- 1.The Defendant pleads guilty to the charge of Burglary. 2.On 5th May 2010, at about 11: 40 in the morning, the Defendant was seen by police officers of climbing up the drainage pipe at the external wall of a building on Castle Peak Road, leaning his upper body into a residential flat. The Defendant was asked to come down and upon enquiries by the police, he admitted that he wanted to enter the flat to steal. 3.The Defendant is 51 years old. He has a long list of criminal records starting from 1977 to 2009, a total of 79 convictions. The offences committed were mostly drug related, with also many theft cases and 4 burglaries. The last burglary case was however committed nearly 18 years ago in 1993. 4.As submitted by Mr. Ng, counsel for the Defendant, the Defendant is obviously a hardened drug addict. He has been living on public assistance and obviously it is insufficient to support his addiction. 5.The usual starting point for burglary on residential premises is a term of 3 years’ imprisonment. In this case, although the Defendant has many previous convictions, as the last burglary offence was committed long time ago, I am not prepared to adjust the sentence upward because of his record. 6.On the other hand, I do not see any mitigating factor apart from his guilty plea. 7.I adopt the usual starting point of 3 years imprisonment for the charge. Taking into account the guilty plea the Defendant is sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.
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