A MAN who a judge said 'embarked on his own major crime wave in Hong Kong' by taking part in a series of armed robberies during which an off-duty policeman was shot and paralysed for life, failed to convince the Court of Appeal that his sentence was too severe. Holding that the 20-year jail penalty was a proper one, the court pointed out that Kay Sik-hong had committed a series of appalling offences and had repeatedly put the public at risk. Dismissing the appeal, Chief Justice Sir Ti Liang Yang and Vice-Presidents Mr Justice Power and Mr Justice Macdougall took the view that anyone involved in this kind of crime should expect no mercy from the court. Kay, 27, had pleaded guilty to 13 charges including robbery, possession of firearms, shooting and discharging of firearms and was jailed for 20 years in May by Mr Justice Sears. The offences occurred between April 1992 and August last year. One of the robberies took place in a Mongkok supermarket and an off-duty policeman, Chan Lun-fat, 28, was shot in the chest when he struggled with the armed robbers. In another holdup, a garment factory owner was shot in the arm when Kay and his accomplices tried to steal the man's car in Sai Kung. Kay, who was not legally represented, contended that the sentence was too severe since he had pleaded guilty at the outset and had assisted police. He said he only acted as a driver in the supermarket robbery and did not know his accomplice would shoot at the policeman.
