HKSAR v. Lee Kwok Lun

DCCC655/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 655 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Lee Kwok-lun, you have been convicted on your own pleas of:

(1) one charge of conspiracy to use false instruments (that is, Charge 1);

(2) one charge of possessing false instruments (that is, Charge 2); and

(3) one charge of possession of apparatus fit and intended for the inhalation of dangerous drugs (Charge 3).

2.The most serious charge is, of course, Charge 1. The conspiracy to which it referred lasted from December last year until the middle of March this year. 

3.Essentially, on the facts that you have admitted, it was an agreement between you and a man whom you describe as a friend called “Siu Yin”, whereby he would provide you with forged credit cards, some of which would bear your own name, for you to present at such retailers in Hong Kong as he specified.

4.Your reward would be 10 per cent of the value of the goods you obtained.

5.He would usually give you two to three cards and the plan would be that if one did not work, then you would present another one to the retailer.

6.The prosecution have relied upon 38 occasions you presented forged credit cards in a variety of retailers, ranging from such luxury shops as Burberry and Swarovski, down to a supermarket like Wellcome. Ten different forged credit cards were used.

7.On 22 occasions you were successful and the value of the goods that you obtained on those occasions amounted to $207,402.

8.On 16 occasions you were unsuccessful and the goods you failed to obtain on those 16 occasions cost $218,343.40.

9.The total cost, therefore, of the goods you either obtained or failed to obtain as a result of tendering these forged credit cards was over $425,000.

10.Based on your admission that you would receive 10 per cent of the value of the goods obtained, your reward would have been in excess of $20,000.

11.An aggravating feature of this offence is that on 21 February this year you were arrested after unsuccessfully attempting to obtain goods from Burberry in Shatin after presenting two forged credit cards pursuant to the conspiracy. You were released on police bail but, despite that, continued to present forged credit cards thereafter.

12.The final incident pursuant to this conspiracy was on 12 March this year, when you went into the Swarovski shop in Mong Kok with the intention of buying crystal there.  The staff recognised you and called the police.

13.When the police arrived you were searched, but before their arrival you had managed to dispose of the two forged credit cards referred to in the charge on a shelf inside the shop.  Those two cards bore your name and those two cards are the subject of Charge 2.

14.Ultimately, you were arrested on 25 April at your home in Tuen Mun, where the police found the apparatus, which is the subject of Charge 3.  You admitted that you had used it to consume “Ice”.

15.In considering the appropriate starting point in this case, I have borne in mind that there is no suggestion of any international element and also borne in mind that you were not the mastermind of this operation.

16.However, as the person who would go into the retailer and present the cards, you were playing an essential and active role in this enterprise.

17.There are a number of features that make this offence particularly serious.

18.The conspiracy spanned a period of three months and continued despite the fact that you had been released on police bail.

19.Ten forged credit cards were used.  The forged credit cards were presented on 38 occasions.  This, obviously, was a carefully planned operation.  Indeed, some of the cards bore your own name.

20.You obtained goods of a substantial value from retailers - over $200,000.  You are a man with an appalling record of offences of dishonesty who had only just been released from prison a month before this conspiracy started.

21.In my view, the appropriate starting points are as follows:

(1) on Charge 1, 4½ years’ imprisonment;

(2) on Charge 2, 3 years’ imprisonment; and

(3) Charge 3, 3 months’ imprisonment.

22.I have listened to the careful submissions that have been made to me by Mr Sherry on your behalf and I have read the letters that have been submitted to me.  I hope that you are sincere when you say that you intend to turn over a new leaf and to rid yourself of the drug habit forever.

23.The only substantial mitigation in your case are your pleas of guilty before the court today and for that you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third.

24.I pass sentence as follows:

(1) on Charge 1, 3 years’ imprisonment;

(2) on Charge 2, 2 years’ imprisonment, to run concurrently with the sentence on Charge 1;

(3) on Charge 3, 2 months’ imprisonment, to run consecutively to the sentences on the other charges.

25.The total sentence, therefore, imposed on you today is one of 3 years 2 months’ imprisonment.