In relation to Count 1, gone 11 o'clock at night in the hours of darkness, you, D1, took a taxi, clearly having planned to rob its driver. You and another man, who has escaped justice, directed it to a quiet, remote, place beyond Pat Heung, in the New Territories. There, you got off the taxi, smashed a beer bottle that you were carrying, pulled open the driver’s door and pointed the smashed beer bottle towards his neck. He must have been terrified. Your accomplice went for the cash box. You removed the car key from the ignition and threw it into a bush. You took the man’s wallet and mobile phone and you made off successfully.
Three days later, on 22 August of last year, just gone midnight, you were doing the same thing again. This time you were doing it with the 2nd accused. Again, the taxi was directed to a remote part of the New Territories. You threatened the driver with a glass beer bottle. This time it was not broken. You took the man’s mobile telephone and his backpack which contained $3,000.
You, the 2nd accused, got off the taxi and pulled open the driver’s door. You pulled out the front seatbelt and that was done in such a way that the driver feared that you were going to use it to strangle him. He must have been terrified.
You will know that the courts regard robberies like this of taxi-drivers as being particularly serious offences. Taxi‑drivers are vulnerable to this sort of conduct. You probably have been told that there are guidelines about such offences. Following a case called Tran Van Anh sentences, after trial, of 7 years are deemed to be appropriate. That is the starting point I shall take for each of these robberies.
You both indicated pleas of guilty at an early stage and I shall give both of you a one-third discount because of it. You will appreciate that is a generous discount. I bear in mind the fact that you are refugees here and that you have a limited income and you cannot work, but I bear in mind, as your counsel concede, that that can provide no excuse for conduct like this.
In your case, Hussein Shakil, the sentence on Count 1 will be 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment. On Count 2, it will be 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
The second robbery cannot be had for free, but I have to keep an eye on the totality of sentence. I judge the right total in the circumstances to be 6 years and I shall achieve that by ordering that the sentence on Count 2 commence after the expiry of 16 months of the sentence on Count 1.
Turning to you, Faisal Iqbal Rana, I have taken the same starting point for the second robbery as I did in the first robbery. Mr Acton-Bond, on your behalf, makes the point that this was a bold plea, because the evidence against you was of visual identification following an identification parade a month after the event. I bear that in mind. I am not going to give you greater than a third discount for the plea though for reasons of policy that apply here in Hong Kong in relation to pleas.
However, against that background and bearing in mind that the bottle was not broken in the second robbery, and bearing in mind that whatever you did with the seatbelt whilst causing fear did not get near actually to causing real injury, I am prepared to mitigate the starting point slightly in your favour. I shall, after the third discount, therefore, pass a sentence of 4½ years on Count 2.