“ In a second case, of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent involving another defendant in respect of which reciprocal charges the appellant had pleaded guilty, the defendant pleaded guilty on arraignment, so that it was not necessary for the appellant to give evidence. This court described the appellant as the principal prosecution witness in each case and did not advert to any other evidence as critical to the prosecution case. In the event, although stating that it did not do so, it appears that the court afforded the appellant a discount of 50 per cent from the starting point. ”

“ The potential benefit to Lam Wai Sai and Lai Kwok Leung of such assistance provided by them to the authorities since sentencing is to be viewed in the context of our earlier determination that the judge fell into error in affording them the full one-third discount for their pleas of guilty, with the result that the sentences imposed upon them were unduly lenient and unwarranted. Such limited further reduction in sentence that might have been afforded them for that assistance is entirely subsumed by the undue leniency afforded them in the sentences imposed upon them. ”

“ There is no dispute that the applicants were not the instigators of the conspiracy. They were mercenaries used by others to recruit, organise and equip foot-soldiers to execute the attack. They did so for the promise of financial reward. The planning for the attack took place over some weeks and involved surveillance of the court room itself in which the victim was appearing as an advocate. ”

“ The gravity of the offence of which the applicants have been convicted on their own pleas lies in the fact that it was a brazen attack on the administration of criminal justice, in which that object was sought to be achieved by the heinous crime of throwing a corrosive fluid over the targeted victim. The fluid was deliberately thrown into the face of the victim by the first attacker. A second attacker succeeded in throwing the corrosive fluid over the clothing of the victim only. ”

“ The defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to throw corrosive fluid. The conspiracy attracts the same sentence as the substantive offence. The starting points for sentence for this offence, which have been upheld or adopted by the Court of Appeal in Hong Kong, range from the high point of 18 years which was HKSAR v Yu Wai Chiu although the case of HKSAR v Lam Ming Wing also has an 18 year sentence and it ranges from 18 years to approximately 2 years’ imprisonment in R v Ngai Kwok Hing CACC 514/1992 which is unreported. ”

“ This court determined that sentences of 18 years’ imprisonment imposed on the applicant after trial in respect of each of two charges of throwing corrosive fluid with intent to cause grievous bodily harm were not manifestly excessive. The applicant had secured the services of two young men to execute the attack with express instructions to blind the victim. ”

“ The attack appears to have beendirected against the victim in his role as prosecutor rather than because of any personal connection with any of these defendants, and it was intended that he should be injured sufficiently to prevent his continuing with the prosecution.
The corrosive fluid chosen was sulphuric acid mixed with a paint additive, and analysis by the Government Chemist confirmed how harmful that could be to the human body. The victim suffered pain and damage to his eyes and the skin of his face. ”

“ A non-American governmental edict may still be copyrighted outside the U.S. Similar to {{PD-in-USGov}}, the above U.S. Copyright Office Practice does not prevent U.S. states or localities from holding copyright abroad, depending on foreign copyright laws and regulations. ”