HKSAR v. Rana Wasif Saleem and Another

Read the full judgment text of DCCC 366/2013 on BabelCite. This District Court judgment.

1. The 1 st and 2 nd defendants plead guilty before me for burglary of a storage house in Yuen Long. The property they intended to steal was electric wires.

Cited by 2 cases

Case No.DCCC 366/2013
Court
District Court
Date
Judge
Case Document
100%Judiciary

DCCC 366/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 366 OF 2013

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  HKSAR  
  v  
  RANA WASIF SALEEM 1st Defendant
  ARSHAD MALIK MUHAMMAD 2nd Defendant
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Coram: Chief District Judge S. T. Poon
Date: 9th July 2013
Present: Ms Kasmine Hui, Public Prosecutor of the Department of Justice for HKSAR.
  Mr Andrew Raffell, instructed by Messrs George Chan & Co. assigned by the Director of Legal Aid for the 1st and 2nd Defendants.
Offence: Burglary (入屋犯法罪)

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The 1st and 2nd defendants plead guilty before me for burglary of a storage house in Yuen Long. The property they intended to steal was electric wires.

2.The 1st defendant is 27 years old and the 2nd defendant is 33.  The 1st defendant has one previous similar record and the 2nd defendant has a clear record.  

3.As submitted by Mr Raffell, counsel for the defendants, in his mitigation, the only mitigating factor here is really their guilty plea.

4.The usual starting point for non-domestic burglary is 2½ years’ imprisonment.   

5.Although the premises is not really commercial in nature, I accept the submission of Mr Raffell not to treat it as a domestic burglary, which will attract a higher starting point. 

6.Although the 1st defendant has one previous similar record, I do not see it sufficient to treat him at this stage as a repeated offender so as to enhance his sentence.

7.In the premises, I see no reason to depart from that usual starting point of 2½ years for the defendants. 

8.Taking into account their guilty pleas, each of the defendants is sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment for the charge. 

  S. T. Poon
  Chief District Judge