R. v. Ng (W.C.), (2008) 263 B.C.A.C. 300 (CA)

• Judge: Rowles, Low and Groberman, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Case Date: October 09, 2008
• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Citations: (2008), 263 B.C.A.C. 300 (CA);2008 BCCA 535

R. v. Ng (W.C.) (2008), 263 B.C.A.C. 300 (CA);

    443 W.A.C. 300

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2009] B.C.A.C. TBEd. JA.037

Regina (appellant) v. Wai Chi (Michael) Ng (respondent)

(CA036117; CA036122; 2008 BCCA 535)

Indexed As: R. v. Ng (W.C.)

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Rowles, Low and Groberman, JJ.A.

December 22, 2008.

Summary:

The accused was convicted of assisting the illegal entry of Y.H.W., assisting Y.H.W. to directly or indirectly misrepresent or withhold material facts, procuring females persons (Y.H.W. and L.Y.T.) to have illicit sexual intercourse with another person and keeping a bawdy house. He received concurrent sentences of nine months for each of the two immigration offences and six months consecutive thereto but concurrent to each other on each of the three prostitution offences, for a total sentence of 15 months' imprisonment. The Crown applied for leave to appeal the sentence. The accused applied to cross-appeal the sentence.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal the sentence and allowed the appeal, substituting a sentence of 27 months' imprisonment. The court denied the accused's application for leave to cross-appeal.

Editor's Note: Certain names in the following case have been initialized or the case otherwise edited to prevent the disclosure of identities where required by law, publication ban, Maritime Law Book's editorial policy or otherwise.

Aliens - Topic 5202

Offences - Sentences - Providing false or misleading information - [See Criminal Law - Topic 5907 ].

Aliens - Topic 5210

Offences - Sentences - Smuggling illegal aliens - [See Criminal Law - Topic 5907 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 5907

Sentence - Prostitution - Living on the avails of - With the accused's assistance, Y.H.W. travelled under false documents to Canada from China and misrepresented her identity upon her arrival at the Vancouver International Airport - The accused owned and operated a massage parlour behind his family residence - After her arrival in Vancouver, Y.H.W. lived in a basement suite in the residence for about two months before working in the massage parlour as a prostitute from July 2002 until May 2004 - For about six weeks in 2004, the accused procured L.Y.T., Y.H.M.'s sister-in-law, to work as a prostitute in his massage parlour - The massage parlour was a common bawdy house - The accused was convicted of assisting the illegal entry of Y.H.W., assisting Y.H.W. to directly or indirectly misrepresent or withhold material facts, procuring females persons (Y.H.W. and L.Y.T.) to have illicit sexual intercourse with another person and keeping a bawdy house - He received concurrent sentences of nine months for each of the two immigration offences and six months consecutive thereto but concurrent to each other on each of the three prostitution offences, for a total sentence of 15 months' imprisonment - The British Columbia Court of Appeal substituted a sentence of 27 months' imprisonment - All the offences involved significant moral turpitude and the two complainants and other women were victims of the accused's greed and opportunism - His criminal conduct was for almost two years - Although the trial judge recognized the need for denunciatory and deterrent sentences, the sentences of six months for the prostitution offences did not adequately address that need - It was correct to make the prostitution offences consecutive to the immigration offences, but the global sentence of 15 months was not fit - While the court did not disturb the sentences for the immigration offences, it increased the sentences for the procuring offence (Y.H.W.) to 18 months, for the procuring offence (L.Y.T.) to 12 months and the bawdy house offence to 12 months (concurrent).

Criminal Law - Topic 5919

Sentence - Prostitution or sexual services - Procuring - [See Criminal Law - Topic 5907 ].

Cases Noticed:

R. v. Bramwell (H.L.) (1993), 37 B.C.A.C. 293; 60 W.A.C. 293; 86 C.C.C.(3d) 418 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 26].

R. v. Chan, [1981] B.C.J. No. 1322 (C.A.), dist. [para. 30].

R. v. Wong, [1980] B.C.J. No. 654 (C.A.), dist. [para. 30].

R. v. Tang (P.) (1997), 200 A.R. 70; 146 W.A.C. 70 (C.A.), dist. [para. 30].

R. v. Miller (R.N.) (1997), 40 O.T.C. 17 (Gen. Div.), dist. [para. 30].

Counsel:

P.R. LaPrairie, for the appellant;

M.P. Klein, for the respondent.

This appeal and cross-appeal were heard on October 9, 2008, at Vancouver, B.C., by Rowles, Low and Groberman, JJ.A., of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. The following judgment of the Court of Appeal was delivered by Low, J.A., on December 22, 2008.