Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Concealment in vessel
  • 19 Nov 1991

    THE QUEEN v. NG KIT YUEN

    Citation
    THE QUEEN v. NG KIT YUEN
    Court
    Court of Appeal
    Case number
    CACC118/1991

    Where illegal immigrants are concealed in a compartment from which escape would be difficult and/or the vessel is unseaworthy creating a grave risk to life, those circumstances are distinct aggravating factors that increase the gravity of the offence; the court endorsed a baseline of five years (per Lam Kon-man) and held that two years may be added for each aggravating factor (yielding starting points such as seven years for one factor and nine years for both); the trial judge's starting point was too low but the appeal against sentence was dismissed and the six-year sentence was upheld.