Sentence review highlights cases where punishment guidelines are being ignored by lower court
Magistrates had uniformly refused to follow the Court of Appeal's sentence guideline for bosses convicted of illegally employing mainland visitors, the court heard yesterday.
Their significant departure from the guideline set down in 1996, which specifies a starting point of 15 months' jail, had raised the question of whether the court needed to interfere with the guideline, Chief Judge Mr Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li said.
He was speaking during a review of sentence sought by the Department of Justice in the case of two people who received suspended prison sentences of one and two months in separate cases.
The maximum penalty under the Immigration Ordinance for hiring a person 'not lawfully employable' is three years' jail and a fine of $350,000. In the past eight years magistrates have mostly imposed suspended sentences or fines.
Prosecutor Daryl Saw SC argued the Court of Appeal should retain the 15 months' guideline to provide a real deterrent.
The application for review of sentence was made in the case of a poultry shop owner, Ho Mei-wa, and a cleaner, Wu Ying-bor.
