HKSAR v. Wong Chi Hong

DCCC725/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 725 OF 2010

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Before: H H Judge Longley

Date: 26 January 2011 at 9.36 am

Offence:  (1) & (2) Burglary (入屋犯法罪)

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Wong Chi-hong, you have been convicted on your own plea of two charges of burglary. Both burglaries were committed at the same flat on the 5th floor of a building in Hunghom on successive days in May last year. On 14 May last year, a Friday evening, while the couple who occupied the flat were out for dinner, you climbed through the toilet window and stole about $6,000 in cash and a mobile phone. The couple called the police who found your fingerprints in the flat. The following day, the male occupant was in the flat when you again attempted to climb into the flat through a window which you had managed to open. You had managed to get half your body through the window when he discovered you. He tried to catch you but you escaped onto the rooftop of an adjacent building.

2.You were later identified with the assistance of a resident of a neighbouring building.  You admitted having spent the money you had stolen on 14 May and having gone back to the flat to steal again.

3.These two incidents are not the first occasion you have stolen the property of others.  On the contrary, you have got into the habit of taking things that do not belong to you. 

4.It is apparent from the reports I received that there were incidents of stealing which were not reported to the police and therefore did not come before the courts.  There were incidents at your school where you got into conflict with your fellow students after you had stolen their property.  There was an incident in May 2008 when you stole $600 from a classroom volunteer.  That incident was not reported to the police because you paid the money back.

5.I have also been told that there were incidents when you have stolen things from your father’s workshop.  Earlier on, there was an incident which was reported to the police, and on 25 May 2004, a police superintendent cautioned you after you stole property from a motor vehicle.

6.At the end of 2008, there were two incidents which did come before the courts.  You stole the property of a woman in a community centre and were arrested on 8 August 2008.  You were allowed out on bail, and during the bail period, you stole a mobile phone in a gym.  You were arrested again. 

7.For both these offences, you were put on probation.  Repeatedly, you did not comply with the direction of your probation officer, and you failed to attend interviews with him or her.  You were even found to be stealing at school during your probation period.  As a result, you were eventually brought back to court and sentenced to 2 weeks’ imprisonment. Now you are before the courts for even more serious offences, burglary.  These offences of stealing and burglary have simply got to stop if you are not to spend the rest of your life in and out of prison.

8.Burglary, breaking into other people’s homes, is regarded by the courts as a very serious offence, and normally people go to prison for 2 to 3 years if they committed burglary.  Because of your background, I asked for reports from the probation officer and for your suitability for training centre.  I did not ask for report as to your suitability for rehabilitation centre because you had already been sentenced to a short term of imprisonment and therefore were not eligible.  It was the opinion of the clinical psychologist that you were not suitable for training centre.

9.As you know, because of your failure to co-operate with your probation officer in the past, there was understandable hesitation from the probation service for you to be put on probation again.  It was considered that you needed disciplinary and character training in a confined centre.  Ultimately, it has appeared that the most appropriate option is for you to be put on probation and that you should reside at a shelter-workshop-cum-hostel.

10.The difficulty has been to find a suitable shelter‑workshop-cum-hostel.  Now after several months and thanks to the efforts of Miss Au Wai-ching and the probation service, a place has been found for you at a shelter workshop hostel at SAHK LOHAS Garden.  It is recommended that you should be put on probation for 24 months - that is 2 years - with the requirement firstly that you shall be of good behaviour and keep the peace; secondly, that you shall reside and work as directed by a probation officer; and, thirdly, that you shall keep in touch with the probation officer.

11.Now, such an order can only be made with your consent.  Now, if I was to make a probation order, would you agree to comply with those terms?

DEFENDANT: Yes.

12.You have already been in prison for several months, so you know what it is like.  If you fail to abide by the terms of the order and, for instance, disobey your probation officer or steal again, you can be brought back to court and dealt with for these two burglary offences again. Now, I must warn you that this almost inevitably will mean you are going back to prison.  Do you understand that?

DEFENDANT: Understood.

13.Very well.  I make a probation order on the terms that I have specified.

有關向上訴法庭提出的相關上訴，請參閲CACC24/2012。