23 Dec 2003
Because the judge adopted a starting point (18 months) exceeding the statutory maximum of 12 months under s.9L(3) Cap.221 for the offence of failing to surrender, the Court of Appeal set an appropriate starting point of 9 months and applied the customary one-third reduction for the guilty plea to 6 months, and adjusted the total sentence accordingly to 26 months.
20 Dec 2002
The court held that the magistrate erred in taking the statutory maximum (24 months) as the starting point for the 3rd charge involving 21,420 cigarettes; a starting point of 10 months was appropriate for the facts, increased to 15 months to reflect aggravating factors of persistence and prevalence, and after discount for guilty plea the appropriate sentence is 10 months imprisonment; concurrent sentencing gives a totality of 10 months.
2 Apr 1987
The judge below erred in treating the two conspiracies as effectively one transaction and in imposing concurrent sentences without considering consecutive sentences for distinct conspiracies. For commercial fraud distinct conspiracies may properly attract consecutive sentences, subject to the totality principle. Sentencing ranges should reflect statutory maxima and seriousness; prior to the s.90(4) amendment the worst cases merited sentences at or near 7 years, thereafter at or near 14 years. Applying these principles, the Court substituted consecutive sentences of one and three years (total…
18 Aug 1976
Because the nine‑month sentence when aggregated with a prior 30‑month sentence produced a total exceeding the three‑year maximum under section 57 of the Magistrates Ordinance, the court reduced the nine‑month sentence to six months so that the aggregate did not exceed the statutory maximum.
20 Jul 1970
The six-month sentence on the second charge exceeded the statutory maximum of three months under s.17 of the Summary Offences Ordinance; the court substituted a three-month sentence to run concurrently with the two-year sentence on the first charge, and upheld convictions on all charges, leaving the overall term unchanged.