Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Backdating of sentence

Legal area

Court

21 Jul 1994

ATTORNEY GENERAL v. MAO KY KHOANG and Others

Citation

ATTORNEY GENERAL v. MAO KY KHOANG and Others
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CAAR4/1994

The trial judge acted beyond legal authority in backdating the sentence; the Court of Appeal upheld that backdating was unauthorised but, to give effect to the judge's clear intention to grant credit for time spent in Chi Ma Wan, substituted a lawful shorter sentence (reducing the robbery count from four years to three years and two months) and allowed the Attorney General's review in part.
30 Apr 1974

IP CHOR HUNG v. THE QUEEN

Citation

IP CHOR HUNG v. THE QUEEN
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC201/1974

The application for leave to appeal was dismissed; the four year sentence was not wrong in principle or manifestly excessive. The court held that the power to backdate a sentence must be used sparingly with reasons given and noted that the trial judge's direction to run the sentence from the date of arrest risked double credit under s.67A(2); ordinarily the sentence should run from the date of conviction as contemplated by s.67A(1).