The court sentenced a mainland student using false academic qualifications to enter into Hong Kong to 17 weeks imprisonment leading to her immediate release.

The mainland student, who held a bachelor’s degree from a university in the PRC, made false representations to the immigration department and a local university by saying that she held a bachelor’s degree from a university in New York. Eventually, the defendant was offered to study in the local university’s master degree programme. The defendant was initially charged with (1) obtaining services by deception and (2) causing to be made a false statement for the purpose of obtaining an entry permit.

Upon negotiation, the prosecution allowed the defendant to plead guilty to charge 2 and charge 1 was withdrawn. In mitigation, the court was urged to pass a sentence allowing the defendant’s immediate release.

After hearing mitigation, the magistrate adopted a starting point of 27 weeks’ imprisonment. The sentence was reduced by one-third to reflect the defendant’s guilty plea. Due to the defendant’s good character and low (if any) risk of re-offending, the magistrate further reduced the sentence by 1 week. Given that the defendant had been remanded for 17 weeks already, the court ordered the defendant to be immediately released.

Simon So represented the defendant for plea in mitigation.