Canto-pop star Nicholas Tse abused his position as a celebrity by switching drivers following a crash in his Ferrari and did not deserve to escape a jail sentence because of his youth, the Department of Justice told a review of sentence hearing yesterday.
In pushing for Magistrate Allan Wyeth to substitute Tse's community service order for one of imprisonment, Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Ryan said the charge on which Tse was convicted was serious and almost inevitably attracted an immediate custodial sentence.
Tse, 22, was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice after allowing a former record company driver to claim he was behind the wheel of his Ferrari when it crashed in Cotton Tree Drive in March.
Tse was in court for half of yesterday's proceedings.
The application for a review of sentence followed widespread criticism from lawyers, educationists, social workers and lawmakers last month over the magistrate's decision to hand down a 240-hour community service order for Tse.
His co-accused, policeman Lau Chi-wai, 28, was jailed for six months.
