- 8 age of the 1st appellant, a Detention Centre sentence was appropriate.
3rd appellant
Of particular significance in relation to the 3rd appellant is that
he was 16 at the time when the majority of the offences were committed,
specifically those relating to making unauthorised copies of copyright
works. Again, the 3rd appellant had strong family support and was
considered in the probation officers report as being suitable for community
service order. He has been studying at the Open University and a
custodial sentence would undoubtedly disrupt that. Nevertheless his
offences also included, importantly, the copying of copyright works and
selling them to members of the public commercially, even if the scale of
the operation was small and in the nature of a part-time and almost amateur,
cottage industry rather than a factory type operation. Even on this basis
alone, we do not see that the custodial sentence, namely that of a Detention
Centre, was wrong or manifestly excessive.
(M. Stuart-Moore)
Chief Judge, High Court (Ag.)
(Anthony Rogers)
Vice-President
(K.H. Woo)
Justice of Appeal
Mr I. Grenville Cross, SC Director of Public Prosecutions
and Mr David Leung, SGC for the Respondent
Mr Thomas Chan instructed by Messrs Peter W.K. Lo & Co for
1st Appellant
Mr Philip Ross instructed by Director of Legal Aid for 3rd Appellant