An associate-degree student who had pleaded guilty to writing a Form Five maths exam for a friend was yesterday ordered by Tuen Mun Court to complete 240 hours of community service - three times the sentence her friend received.
The judge tripled the sentence on Leung Hoi-ting, now 20, after she repeatedly changed her plea in the city's first criminal case of its kind.
Magistrate Clement Lee Hing-nin last month ordered Form Six student Yuen Wai-chi to perform 80 hours of community service.
Yuen had asked Leung to sit the maths examination for her last May.
The pair initially pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, after Leung completed the exam at a Tin Shui Wai centre on Yuen's behalf.
After she admitted committing the exam fraud in March, Leung applied to change her plea two weeks later, alleging that she had been misled by ICAC investigators.
The plea change was said to reflect Leung's immaturity, but the magistrate considered it an attempt to evade responsibility.
