HKSAR v. Hon Man Wai, Anthony
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DCCC374/2011 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO. 374 OF 2011 ----------------------
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-------------------------- Reasons for Sentence -------------------------- 1.Having dismissed the charge of robbery against you, I convicted you of common assault, contrary to Common Law and punishable under section 40 of the Offences against the Person Ordinance, Cap. 221, on your own admission and the evidence before me. 2.The facts have been fully rehearsed in my verdict and I do not really need to repeat them. Suffice it to say that at the time and place of the incident, you had a verbal exchange with the victim, foul language was used by both of you. You lost control of your temper, you punched the victim, the victim fell to the floor and you kicked him two or three times whilst he was on the ground defenceless. You then left the scene with no care for his welfare whatsoever. 3.The victim sustained an abrasion and swelling to the right face and upper lip. 4.You admit to two previous convictions, but I note they are of some age. They are also convictions of a dissimilar nature. 5.On your behalf, Mr Chan entered limited mitigation. He told me that you accepted the contents of the report provided by the prosecution, the antecedent report. He said that you are divorced; you have a daughter of 15 who is in the custody of your ex-wife. He said that you committed this offence after provocation from PW1, that you had suffered great anxiety and pressure, facing trial for robbery, and he asked me to impose a non-custodial sentence. 6.I turn now to the sentence. You are convicted of common assault. In my opinion, this is a very serious common assault, towards the top of the scale. PW1 was an older man and much less robust than yourself. He was a man who had taken drink and was affected to some extent. PW2 said he was drunk. There was verbal abuse from each of you and I accept that there was a degree of provocation from PW1. Though you had no legal or moral authority to order him to leave the scene, the simple fact is that you lost control of your temper, you punched him, and whilst he was defenceless on the floor, you then very cowardly kicked him. 7.If you had not gone that far, I would have spared you a custodial sentence. But kicking on a defenceless old man lying on the floor is totally unacceptable. Having done that, you made no effort to find out how badly he was hurt, you callously left him. Fortunately, his injuries were relatively slight. Also, on your favour, this is your first conviction for an offence of violence. And I do accept that facing a robbery trial would have been very stressful to you. 8.In this case I take a starting point of 9 weeks’ imprisonment, reduced to 6 for your plea of guilty. You will go to prison for 6 weeks.
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