刑事檢控科各律師/高級律政 - Department of Justice

12
CA 146/2000
Leong &
Wong JJA
(6.9.2000)
*Cheung Wai-sun
#C Remedios
FRANCISCO
Reynaldo F
Manslaughter after trial for murder/Offer to plead guilty to
manslaughter due to provocation rejected/Discount of one-third
not to be denied after self-defence raised in cross-examination
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The Applicant was convicted after trial of manslaughter, having
pleaded not guilty to murder.
The deceased was the girlfriend of the Applicant, and the
evidence pointed to an unpremeditated homicide in a domestic setting.
Death was caused by a single blow. In his testimony the applicant
claimed that he had been provoked and that he had acted as he did in
order to protect himself. The issue of self-defence came out in crossexamination.
The judge directed the jury both on murder and manslaughter
and on provocation and self-defence. By their verdict it was obvious
that the jury had rejected the Applicant’s case of self-defence.
Although the jury did not indicate the basis of their verdict, it was clear
that it had been reached on the basis of provocation.
In sentencing the Applicant, the judge said:
Your counsel has said that neither unlawful
manslaughter nor manslaughter by provocation is
more serious than the other. I certainly will not
sentence you on any assumption other than the one
most favourable to you. This is a bad case of
manslaughter since someone was killed by being
struck on the head with a hard and heavy object, but
it is not the worst category of manslaughter. All
things considered, I proposed to take a starting point
of 8 years’ imprisonment. I will reduce it for the
mitigation available to you. As to that, I will take
into account everything that has been urged on your
behalf by your counsel.
The mitigating factors included the Applicant’s good character,
his remorse which the judge accepted as genuine and deep as
evidenced by his attempted suicide and distress throughout the trial,