13 Jun 2025
The statutory threshold in section 22(1)(b) was not met because the applicant failed to identify any question of great general or public importance and advanced grounds confined to his case which did not demonstrate any error of law in the Court of Appeal's judgment; therefore leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal was refused.
18 Sept 2023
Applying the sentencing guidelines in Li Cheung Lai, possession of a forged identity card normally attracts a pre-plea starting point of 18 months; because the appellant was convicted after trial the correct starting point was 18 months, a one-month reduction for health was appropriate in principle but did not render a 14-month custodial sentence excessive; therefore the appeal against sentence is dismissed.
30 Mar 2022
The Court upheld the trial judge's findings that the appellant knowingly concealed the true beneficiary by registering and operating accounts for another, rejected the appellant's exculpatory explanations after detailed credibility findings, and applied the two‑stage Harjani test to conclude that a reasonable person with the appellant's knowledge would have been bound to believe the funds were proceeds of crime; accordingly the convictions on Charges 5 and 9 were safe and the appeal was dismissed.
7 Aug 2019
The Court held the sentencing judge rightly adopted the 3‑year baseline from HKSAR v Xie Jinbin for offences involving agarwood and correctly reduced that baseline by one‑third for an early guilty plea to 2 years; the offence and quantity justified that starting point and the applicant’s leave to appeal against sentence was refused.
28 Dec 2018
The judge erred in treating 2,100g of mixture as 2,100g of Ketamine narcotic; having regard to the admitted purity (17.7%) and multiple manufacturing occasions, the court inferred an overall narcotic quantity in the region of 1,000g, adopted a 15‑year notional sentence after trial (reflecting trafficking guidelines and uplift for manufacturing), then applied a full one‑third discount for the early guilty plea and substituted the sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.
30 Apr 2018
The appeal is dismissed. The magistrate reasonably refused the costs application because the appellant admitted in recorded interview and by documentary conduct to using old prescriptions and obtaining backdated prescriptions and receipts such that some submitted claims were not factually correct; that conduct amounted to self‑incriminatory admissions and had misled the prosecution and justified denying costs; the magistrate did not err in procedure or in concluding there were sufficient reasons to refuse costs.
29 Mar 2012
The magistrate correctly applied the 12-month starting point for pickpocketing-type theft; there was no evidence the guilty plea was involuntary given legal representation and an interpreter; the appellant's foreign status and personal hardship did not justify reduction below the imposed 8-month sentence, therefore the appeal is dismissed.
7 Jun 2011
Leave to appeal was granted because, although the underlying principle from the Court of Final Appeal was not in doubt, the manner in which it was applied or purportedly applied by the lower court justified granting leave under s.22(1)(b).
23 Jun 2006
The magistrate lawfully applied the precedent setting an 18-month baseline for mere possession and permissibly reduced the sentence to 15 months for personal circumstances; no new material was presented on appeal and therefore the appellate court must dismiss the appeal and affirm the sentence.
15 Apr 2003
The Court held the judge did not err: an offer to supply may be sentenced on the same basis as trafficking; the judge was entitled to extrapolate narcotic content from the sample, the stated price and the surrounding evidence and to find the applicant intended to complete the transaction; given the large assumed quantity and the applicant's extensive trafficking record a 12-year starting point was not manifestly excessive; the appeal against sentence fails though leave is granted to clarify the concurrency and consecutiveness directions.