Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Sentence reduction for guilty plea

Legal area

Court

20 Dec 2019

HKSAR v. LAU YIU MING

Citation

[2019] HKCA 1456
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC92/2019

The Court found the judge's adoption of the applicable starting points and the one-third reduction for a timely guilty plea were in line with authority; the applicant's claimed assistance was not of practical value according to ICAC records and therefore did not justify any further discount, the judge acted within her sentencing discretion in not enhancing for repeat offending and in affording some credit for attempted cooperation, and there was no basis to criticise counsel; accordingly the leave application was refused.
20 Nov 2018

HKSAR v. LAI KIM MAN

Citation

[2018] HKCA 877
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC300/2018

Bail was refused because the applicant failed to demonstrate that his appeal had a good chance of success (his claim of assistance was unsupported and did not induce the co-defendant's plea) and there was a significant risk that a substantial part of the 22-month sentence would be served before the appeal was heard, so bail was inappropriate.
28 Jun 2017

HKSAR v. TANVEER AHMED

Citation

HKSAR v. TANVEER AHMED
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA134/2017

Because the appellant was convicted after trial there was no basis to sentence him as if he had pleaded guilty; the periods of administrative detention were unrelated to the offence so s.67A did not mandate a deduction, and the magistrate did not misexercise his discretion in refusing any further discretionary reduction, the sentence of 22 months and 2 weeks is upheld.
4 Dec 2013

HKSAR v. SUWANTI

Citation

HKSAR v. SUWANTI
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC245/2013

The Court held the trial judge correctly adopted a 12-year starting point for 200 grams of cocaine and was entitled to apply a 25% reduction for a late guilty plea; accordingly the sentence of nine years' imprisonment was appropriate and the appeal was dismissed.
13 Mar 2013

HKSAR v. AKHTAR HUSSAIN

Citation

HKSAR v. AKHTAR HUSSAIN
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA711/2012

The magistrate had overemphasised aggravating features without evidence that the victim must have feared rape or for her life; taking into account the appropriate starting point of nine months after trial and allowing full credit for the guilty plea, the proper sentence is six months imprisonment; appeal allowed and original sentence set aside and substituted accordingly.
14 Nov 2007

HKSAR v. HOWARD KENNETH MCCALL

Citation

HKSAR v. HOWARD KENNETH MCCALL
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC81/2006

The conviction on count 1 was safe because the judge's directions were adequate, discrepancies in police evidence were properly left to the jury, the decision not to prosecute Chan did not produce unfairness, and the post-retirement jury communication (receipt of statute extract and refusal of audiotape) was an irregularity that was not material to cause a miscarriage of justice; however the sentencing on count 2 required correction because the judge failed to allow the usual one-third discount appropriate to the admitted partial possession, warranting reduction of the count 2 sentence to 12…
21 Jul 2005

HKSAR v. CHENG NGA KWAN AND ANOTHER

Citation

HKSAR v. CHENG NGA KWAN AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC461/2003

The court refused to treat the 3rd applicant's notice of abandonment as a nullity because although she was mistaken about the prospects of appeal she had the requisite intention to abandon; therefore the abandonment stands. The court granted the 8th applicant leave out of time, accepted a revised starting point of four years, applied a one third reduction for guilty plea and substituted a sentence of two years six months.
16 Mar 2005

HKSAR v. MEDRANO Jenina Mariquit U

Citation

HKSAR v. MEDRANO Jenina Mariquit U
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC238/2004

Leave to appeal was refused because the original sentence—starting point 6 years reduced to 4 years for a guilty plea—was appropriate in light of a large scale $16 million fraud over 22 months and the applicant's submissions did not establish grounds for leave.
18 Nov 2003

HKSAR v. DEL ROSARIO, ROSEMARIE MERCADO

Citation

HKSAR v. DEL ROSARIO, ROSEMARIE MERCADO
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA894/2003

The magistrate failed to apply any discount for the appellant's guilty plea; on that basis the appeal was allowed, the original sentencing order was set aside and the matter was resentenced by adopting a 21-month starting point and, after applying the appropriate discount for plea, imposing 14 months imprisonment.
24 Jan 2002

HKSAR v. WONG WAI YIP

Citation

HKSAR v. WONG WAI YIP
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC159/2001

The judge properly combined the two quantities to determine a single appropriate starting point within the Lau Tak-ming tariff, applied the one-third reduction for guilty pleas, and the resulting total sentence was not excessive; therefore the application for leave to appeal was dismissed and the sentencing judge's approach was correct.