HKSAR v. Lau Chung Piu

Case No.HCCC 490/2013
Court
High Court CFI
Date08 Jun 2015
Judge
Case Document
100%

HCCC 490/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 490 OF 2013

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  HKSAR  
  v  
  Lau Chung-piu  

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Before: Deputy High Court Judge Beeson
Date: 8 June 2015 at 3.34 pm
Present: Mr Michael Arthur, counsel-on-fiat, instructed by the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
  Mr David Boyton and Mr Raymond Chui, instructed by Messrs Littlewoods, for the accused
Offence: Rape (強姦)

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: You have been found guilty by a unanimous verdict of the jury of one count of rape.

The victim was a 33-year-old woman with whom you were having a social evening, and you took advantage of the fact that she became drunk during that evening, and had intercourse with her without her consent.

You also failed to wear a condom, which is an aggravating feature in respect of this rape.

I note that you have two previous convictions, neither related to sexual offences: trafficking in dangerous drugs in 2002, for which you were sentenced to 120 hours of community service; in 2008, you were found in possession of dangerous drugs and fined $8,000.

Your antecedents statements show that you have been educated in Hong Kong. You studied for 1 year on an air-conditioning and refrigeration programme under Vocational Training Council. You studied for three years on an air-conditioning and refrigeration programme in the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, and you have been employed as an air‑conditioning repairer since you were 20 years old.

You are now 32. You have a good income. You are single and you have a good family relationship.

The guideline for sentence starts with Billam, although that case is not entirely appropriate in the Hong Kong context.

Taking all the factors into account, I take a starting point of 6 years, and add 1 year for the aggravating feature of not wearing a condom; a total of 7 years.

I sentence you to 7 years’ imprisonment.