Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Deterrence and mitigation

Legal area

Court

28 Sept 2018

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. HO KIT WANG

Citation

[2018] HKCFA 43
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACC14/2018

Court allowed appeals: Court of Appeal properly could interfere under s81A because magistrate erred and community service orders were manifestly inadequate, but the Court of Appeal wrongfully applied the new Wong Chi Fung (CA) sentencing guidelines retrospectively when fixing term lengths and failed to take proper account of s109A principles conceptually for appellants who crossed age 21; remedy was to set aside the CA custodial sentences and substitute imprisonment equal to time already served for each appellant.
28 Sept 2018

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. CHU WAI CHUNG

Citation

[2018] HKCFA 43
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACC6/2018

The Court allowed the appeals because although the Court of Appeal was entitled to substitute custodial sentences (the magistrate had erred and imposed manifestly inadequate community service orders), the Court of Appeal wrongly relied on and effectively applied post-Wong Chi Fung sentencing guidelines retrospectively when fixing sentence lengths and failed to record consideration of s109A youth protections; accordingly the Court set aside the Court of Appeal\'s imprisonment terms and substituted sentences corresponding to time already served by each appellant.