2 Sept 2016
HKSAR v. NGO VAN NAM
- Citation
- HKSAR v. NGO VAN NAM
- Court
- Court of Appeal
- Case number
- CACC418/2014
The Court held that ordinary voluntary confessions and cooperation are generally subsumed within the established one‑third guilty‑plea discount and a judge is not obliged to award a discount greater than one‑third; the strength of the prosecution case is irrelevant to the quantum of the plea discount; the Court clarified sentencing practice by endorsing a range of discounts by stage (one‑third at committal/earlier, 25% pre‑listing, 20% first day of trial, lesser during trial) and ruled that in CACC 418/2014 the appellant’s sentence was not excessive but in CACC 327/2015 the judge erred in red…