Your World of Legal Intelligence
 Hong Kong | 1-800-335-6202

The Queen v Tam Chi Pang And Others

Judgment Cited authorities 3 Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
Judgment Date10 July 1986
Year1986
Judgement NumberCACC119/1985
Subject MatterCriminal Appeal
CourtCourt of Appeal (Hong Kong)
CACC000119/1985 THE QUEEN v. TAM CHI PANG AND OTHERS

CACC000119/1985
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL 1985 No.119
(Criminal)

BETWEEN:

THE QUEEN
AND
TAM CHI-PANG (D1)
LEUNG CHI-YUEN (D2)
NG KIN-TUNG (D3)
HO KWOK-CHEUNG (D4)
LEUNG KWOK-TUNG (D5)

Coram: Roberts, C.J., Macdougall, J. & Barnes, J.

Dates of hearing: 24 - 27 June 1986

Date of judgment: 10 July 1986

------------------

JUDGMENT

------------------

[ Interventions by judge - the tired jury - power to order retrial.]

Roberts, C.J. -

Preliminary

1. The first appellant ("D.1") was convicted on -

Count 1 - Manslaughter

Count 3 - Robbery

Count 4 - Possession of arms

Counts 6 to 12 - Shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The second appellant ("D.2") was convicted on -

Count 1 - Manslaughter

Count 3 - Robbery

Count 4 - Possession of arms

Counts 6 to 15 - Shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm

Count 16 - Possession of arms

Count 17 - Possession of ammunition

The third appellant ("D.3") was convicted on -

Count 1 - Manslaughter

Count 3 - Robbery

Count 4 - Possession of arms

Counts 6 to 15 - Shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm

Count 16 - Possession of arms

Count 17 - Possession of ammunition

The fourth appellant ("D.4") was convicted on -

Count 1 - Manslaughter

Count 3 - Robbery

Count 4 - Possession of arms

Counts 6 to 15 - Shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm

Count 16 - Possession of arms

Count 17 - Possession of ammunition

The fifth appellant ("D.5") was convicted on -

Count 2 - Shooting with intent to murder

Count 13 - Shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Count 16 - Possession of arms

Count 17 - Possession of ammunition.

2. All five appellants initially sought leave to appeal also against sentence. However, after the question of their convictions had been dealt with, D.2, D.3, D.4 and D.5 withdrew their applications for leave to appeal against sentence.

3. They did so after we had warned them that we might well be disposed to increase their total sentences, to take account of the fact that there was an interval of several days between the first and second sets of offences. For that reason it was our preliminary view that the sentences for the second group of offences might well be made to run consecutively in whole or in part, to the sentences imposed for the first group of offences.

Background Facts

4. At about 11 a.m. on 31st January, 1984, a Hong Kong Security Company Limited van, carrying three boxes of foreign currency, for delivery to the Po Sang Bank on the ground floor of Wing On House, Des Voeux Road, Central, arrived outside the bank's premises.

5. The van's rear compartment was opened, so that the cash boxes might be taken out and carried into the bank. As the third box was removed from it, five or six men, armed with pistols, arrived and shouted "Robbery - drop your gun".

6. One of the group, identified by Mr. Cheung, one of the security guards, as D.1, pointed a pistol at him and took away one of the cash boxes, containing Y138,400,000. The robbers retreated to the corner of Des Voeux Road Central and Pottinger Street, observed by a number of witnesses. They hurried from Pottinger Street into Connaught Road, Central. Here they were observed by another witness, Mr. CHAN Ka-wing, who saw that one of the five was carrying a shotgun, that some of them were holding pistols and that one or two of them were holding a cash box.

7. At about this time, Mr. CHAN Shun-yam, driving Mercedes Benz car No. AC 3223, stopped at the lights at the junction of Pottinger Street and Connaught Road Central. As he did so, several men approached his car, ordered him to get out of it and threatened him with a shotgun. Mr. Chan got out of his car and ran across tae road to call the police.

8. There can be no doubt that those who took part in the robbery of the Po Sang Lank cash box boarded car No. AC 3223 with the proceeds of the robbery and that several of those who boarded that car were carrying firearms.

9. At about 11.15 a.m. a police vehicle received a message regarding AC 3223, spotted it near Causeway Bay and chased it as far as Cloudview Road where it disappeared. At 11.22 the car arrived at the Crown carpark in Fortress Hill Road. The cashier at that carpark said that she thought that it contained five persons, one of whom got out of the car and walked out of the carpark separately.

10. Inside the car, when it was subsequently searched, were found a shotgun and a metal box of the kind taken from the security van. Also found in the carpark were a travelling bag and a brief case containing large quantities of the Japanese currency which had been stolen.

11. P.C. 1770, LAU Wah-po, observed four men emerge from the Crown carpark, the leader holding two pistols in his hands and the other three men each holding one pistol. He saw the leader fire a shot at him, followed by four more shots, though he did not know where they came from. He fired back once at the leader. The four men ran down Fortress Hill Road.

12. Mr. CHONG Sui-mei, a caretaker, was inside the management office of the North Point Centre, close to the entrance to the Crown carpark. Hearing the sound of a gunshot, he came to the entrance of the carpark and saw a man in a pale yellow jacket, standing inside the entrance of the Crown carpark. When the man saw Mr. Chong, he turned to face him and shot him ire the stomach.

13. At about this time, a police vehicle arrived and stopped opposite the Crown carpark. Two police officers ran towards the nearby Golden Crown carpark. As they did so a shot was fired at them. They took cover and saw four men run out of the Crown carpark, in two groups of two. The sergeant tried to intercept the second group, whereupon the first group fired several shots at him from the entrance to the carpark. Among this group was D.3, identified by P.C. LAW Kwok-leung.

14. The sergeant followed the four men, each of whom was holding a pistol. Shots were fired by them at the police as they chased them. When the four men turned into King's Road, where a police vehicle was waiting, at the junction of Fuk Yuen Street and King's Road, one of the four men fired a shot at it.

15. Three police officers alighted from it and pursued the four men into Electric Road, whether another exchange of shots occurred, between the police officers and the four men, in the course of which a bullet fired by either D.1 or D.2 hit Miss LI Yuet-kam, a bystander, in the head and killed her.

16. During the exchange of fire in Electric Road, a police officer fired a shot which hit D.1, who was lifted up and helped away by D.2.

17. Following the shooting of Miss Li, the robbers ran down Electric Road towards Oil Street. Near the junction of those two roads they hijacked another car, CS 9023. The forcible taking of this car was observed by Mr. FOK Ching-chung, a reporter of the Sing Pao newspaper, who took two photographs of the incident, which were subsequently enlarged and put before the jury. These showed four men boarding CS 9023, which was driven to Hing Fat Street where a police traffic officer fired a shot at the car when it halted. The four men got out of the car and fired a total of 7 or 8 shots at the policeman, after which they ran towards Victoria Park Road.

18. P.C. LEUNG Wai-hung observed this incident and identified D.2 as having fired 7 or 8 rounds in the direction of the police traffic officer and as holding two guns in his hand.

19. At about 11.40, Mr. TSUN Chun-kai, the driver of Taxi AZ 2139, noticed a B.M.W. HK 336 car ahead of him, in Victoria Park Road. He saw several men running from a construction site towards the B.M.W. car, gesturing to the passengers inside to get out of it.

20. Mr. LI Hung, the driver of HK 336, said that he was driving a female passenger, who had bought some star fruit that morning, and that when he and his passenger were ordered out of the car they left their belongings behind. After the B.M.W. car was forcibly taken, the police lost sight of it, until it was discovered by a police officer at 11.52 near Bowen Road The defendants had disappeared.

21. This was a determined bank robbery which went wrong, followed by a chase through the crowded streets of Hong Kong in the middle of the day, with a group of ruthless men prepared to use firearms against anybody seeking to obstruct their escape.

22. In the course of these appalling events, one innocent bystander was killed, one was severely wounded in the stomach and two others received wounds. At least 32 rounds were estimated to have been fired from the four guns used by the defendants.

23. This is unhappily not an end of the story. On 4th February, four days after these incidents, D.1, who had been shot in the buttock, surrendered himself to the police and told them where the other defendants could be found, at Flat 2303 Wun Sha Tower, Wun Sha Street, Causeway Say.

24. When a police party arrived at those premises on 5th February, there was an exchange of shots between them and D.2, D.3, D.4 and D.5. This incident was the subject of Counts, 2, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

25. When the flat was searched, after the police had forced their way in, four loaded pistols were found, all of which had been recently...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT