15 May 2019
The sentencing judge acted within lawful discretion: the 8‑month reduction for herbal cannabis, the 3‑month uplift for the international element, and the 2‑month further reduction for assistance were all justified by the facts and relevant authorities; accordingly leave to appeal against sentence is refused.
14 Jun 2018
The applicant's challenges to conviction and counsel conduct were without merit because counsel's decisions were defensible tactical choices, the judge's directions were adequate, and the proposed fresh evidence lacked the necessary provenance and could have been obtained at trial; accordingly leave to appeal and the conviction were dismissed. The confiscation order for the iPhone was upheld because the phone was used in connection with the trafficking and is forfeitable under s56(1)(a) DDO. The late application to appeal sentence was not pursued substantively and would not have succeeded.
30 Sept 1998
The learned Magistrate's acceptance of the police evidence that persons were observed playing tiles and that entry was delayed triggered the statutory presumption under s.19 which the appellants failed to rebut; consequently the convictions for gambling in a gambling establishment were upheld. Sentences were largely upheld but confiscations were reduced where identification and attribution of specific sums to particular appellants was unreliable, resulting in half the amounts found on the present appellants being returned.
27 May 1992
Appeal dismissed: where smuggling involves substantial quantity, high value goods and deliberate concealment an immediate custodial sentence is not inappropriate; magistrates sentencing for export of unmanifested cargo should not take probable forfeiture of the goods into account pursuant to Attorney General v. So Ma-por; English authorities on taking confiscation into account do not displace the Hong Kong position here, so the original consecutive sentences are upheld.