THE QUEEN v. LAU KIN-FONG
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HCCC000092/1976
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HONG KONG
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CASE NO. 92 OF 1976
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| THE QUEEN | ||
| against | ||
| LAU KIN-FONG |
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Coram: Cons, J.
Date of Judgment: 4th May, 1978.
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JUDGMENT
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1. The details of this matter are not of general interest but they have brought to notice the unsatisfactory consequences that may follow where a person who is currently on probation imposed by the High Court or the District Court commits a further offence of which he is convicted in the magistrate's court. One would naturally expect the magistrate to delay the sentence for that further offence until he knew what course the higher court would take in regard to the original offence. The magistrate would then be able to take that decision into account when considering what he himself should do. However, the magistrate cannot at present do this. Section 6(4) and (5) of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance, Cap. 298, both demand that the offender should be dealt with by the magistrate before a higher court has jurisdiction. The result in the present instance is that the offender will now be serving a custodial sentence imposed by this court while on a further probation order imposed by the learned magistrate.
The same unsatisfactory situation must have existed for some time in England and Wales, upon whose Criminal Justice Act 1948 our Probation Ordinance appears to have been modelled to some extent. But the situation was emphatically remedied in 1967: Criminal Justice Act 1967 sections 56(3), 103(2) and Schedule 7. Consideration should perhaps be given to similar amendment here.
Representation: