COURT: The defendant, Mr Leung Kwok-wah, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery during the committal proceedings. These offences are contrary to section 10 of the Theft Ordinance, Chapter 210.
The particulars of the 1st count are that the defendant:
“...on the 2nd day of December 2012, at 7-Eleven Convenience Store, Shop 1206, Pak Shing Street, Tai Po, New Territories, in Hong Kong, robbed Loo Kit‑ching of cash $3,300 Hong Kong currency and one packet of cigarettes.”
The particulars of the 2nd count are that the defendant:
“...on the 17th day of December 2012, at 7-Eleven Convenience Store, Shop 1, Ground Floor, Greenery Plaza, No 3 Chui Yi Street, Tai Po, New Territories, in Hong Kong, robbed So Hoi-fa of cash HK$3,300.”
The defendant is committed to this court for sentence.
Admitted Facts
At around 0330 hours on 2 December 2012, female Loo Kit‑ching was on duty at the 7-Eleven Convenience Store at Shop 1206, Pak Shing Street, Tai Po, alone. The defendant, wearing a black balaclava and holding a pointed knife, entered the store, declared robbery and told Loo to open the cash register, which she did. The defendant took all the banknotes from the cash register. He also took a packet of cigarettes valued at $45 from the display rack before making good his escape. A total of $3,300 was stolen.
At around 0248 on 17 December 2012, female So Hoi‑fa was on duty at the 7-Eleven Convenience Store at Shop 1, Ground Floor, Greenery Plaza, 3 Chui Yi Street, Tai Po, New Territories, alone. The defendant entered the store, displayed a pointed knife of about 20 centimetres long, and ordered So to open the cash register, which she did. The defendant took all the banknotes from the cash register and left. A total of about $3,000 cash was stolen.
The defendant was arrested on 17 December 2012 for the second robbery and under caution he admitted committing both of the robberies. A knife and cash of $1,160 were seized from the defendant’s home and the defendant admitted using the knife in the robberies and the cash being left over from the money stolen.
In a video-recorded interview subsequently conducted the defendant made full confessions of the two robberies.
Criminal Record
The defendant has 24 previous convictions including six robberies, one attempted robbery, and one theft. The last conviction took place in April 2001.
Mitigation
The defendant is aged 61 and had received Primary 5 education. He is divorced and has a girlfriend living in China whom he used to visit on a weekly basis.
Counsel for the defendant tells the court that the defendant was an assistant in the Alice Nethersole Hospital but was laid off in November 2012. He struggled for money and committed the present offences.
The defence counsel submitted in mitigation a letter written by the defendant. In the letter the defendant expresses remorsefulness and asks the court to give him a last chance so that he can make use of his time to do voluntary work to help the elderly and underprivileged.
Defence counsel points out that the similar convictions of the defendant are more than 20 years old and his last conviction is more than 12 years ago showing that the defendant has kept out of trouble for quite some time.
The defendant co-operated with the police and confessed the first robbery of his own accord. He only brandished the knife and did not hurt anybody. The two offences were committed 15 days apart and the defence counsel asks the court to impose partly concurrent sentences.
Sentence
The defence counsel correctly points out that according to Mo Kwong-Sang v R [1981] HKLR 610, for a robbery involving the display of a knife to the victim the normal starting point is 5 years’ imprisonment. It is, however, also held in Mo Kwong-Sang that if the robbery also involves an invasion of private premises, including business premises, the starting point should be 6 years’ imprisonment.
In the present case, the robberies occurred inside convenience stores and the victims were the attendants of the stores. For this kind of stores which operate 24 hours a day with usually only one staff member managing the store during the night-time, the store attendant is particularly vulnerable. This is an aggravating factor the court has to take into account. The defendant committed the two offences within a short period of time. This is another aggravating factor.
Having considered all the circumstances of the case, including the co-operative attitude of the defendant after arrest, the court adopts a starting point of 6 years’ imprisonment for Count 1 and 6½ years’ imprisonment for Count 2.
Giving credit for the defendant’s plea of guilty, the court sentences him to 4 years’ imprisonment for Count 1 and 4 years 4 months’ imprisonment for Count 2.
Having considered the nature of the offences and the totality principle the court orders 2 years of the sentence of Count 2 to run consecutively to that of Count 1, making a total imprisonment term of 6 years.