Jail term upheld for Bossini heiress kidnapper due to his role in ‘joint criminal enterprise’
Zheng Xingwang, who was jailed for 12 years, argued his jail term was excessive as he had only provided “logistical support” for the kidnapping
The Court of Appeal rejected a bid by a member of the gang that kidnapped Queenie Rosita Law to have his jail sentence reduced as a judge ruled his “logistical support” for the crime did not diminish his responsibility.
Zheng Xingwang, who was jailed for 12 years, argued that his jail term was excessive and that he had not threatened to use force against the victim at any time.
Zheng was jailed in June last year after he pleaded guilty to kidnapping the heiress to Bossini, a Hong Kong-listed apparel chain which runs stores across the globe including in South East Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Greater China regions.
But Mr Justice Ian McWalters, who heard Zheng’s appeal with Mr Justice Jeremy Poon, rejected Zheng’s suggestion on Monday in a written judgment, saying that he should be sentenced based on what his accomplices had done as part of the “joint enterprise”.
“His personal culpability has to be adjudged in the context of being involved in a joint enterprise crime in which threat of force and the application of it would inevitably be necessary in order to make Miss Law ... compliant,” Mr Justice McWalters wrote.
