A District Court judge was heavy-handed and wrong when he sentenced a 'hard-up' illegal immigrant to two years' jail for wearing stolen shoes, appeal court judges ruled yesterday.
They agreed with Kuk Hon-chiu's lawyer - as well as the prosecutor - that one year in jail for each shoe was 'manifestly excessive' by anyone's standards.
'Perhaps we should be grateful it wasn't Imelda Marcos' place or he would be in for life,' prosecutor Andrew Bruce said.
District Court judge Wayne Wilson took a starting point of three years in jailing Kuk, 24, for handling stolen property, cutting it to two years for his guilty plea.
Kuk was in the Court of Appeal with two other defendants, Lam Chi-wah and Li Yin-fung, who were involved in a robbery last September. Their appeals against sentences for robbery and being an illegal immigrant were rejected.
Kuk and four other illegal immigrants pounced on picnickers in Sha Tin Country Park on September 2 and robbed them using part of a tree trunk as a weapon.
