LAM LIN-SUM v. THE QUEEN

CACC000811/1979

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL	1979 No. 811
	(Criminal)

BETWEEN
	LAM Lin-sum	Appellant
	AND
	THE QUEEN	Respondent

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Coram: Huggins, J.A., McMullin, J.A. and Yang, J.

Date of Judgment: 5 February 1980

 

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JUDGMENT

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Huggins, J.A.:

1. This Appellant applies for leave to appeal against a sentence of four years' imprisonment. There was a very serious offence here in which a gang armed with knives carried out a raid on a party which the judge accepted was a gambling party. A very large sum of money was stolen, a total of some $58,000. The learned judge passed a blanket sentence of four years' imprisonment on all the four accused who were actually tried before him, another man having failed to answer to his bail. The learned judge did not obtain any reports on this Appellant, but, as he was just twenty years old at the time of the offence and all the others were considerably older, we thought we ought to obtain some reports. It appears that the Appellant had an unfortunate childhood, his father having been shot dead in a robbery. We have reports from the probation officer and from the Commissioner of Prisons. It is not necessary to go into details. The Commissioner of Prisons advises that the Appellant is fit for detention in a detention centre but we have come to the conclusion that this is not a proper case for detention centre treatment: the offence is too serious. Nevertheless, having regard to the Appellant's age, we think that it would be appropriate, in the circumstances of the present case, to allow the appeal and to substitute a sentence of two and a half years' imprisonment, and we so order.

 

5th February 1980.