Robbery

Robbery is a crime contrary to Section 10 of the Theft Ordinance (Chapter 210). Robbery is committed where a person steals and immediately before or at the time of stealing and in order to steal use force upon any person or puts anyone in fear of the use of force. The questions for the court are i) whether force was used or ii) threatened, iii) when was the force used or threatened and iv) what was the purpose of the use or threat of force. The maximum penalty for robbery is life imprisonment. Robbery is therefore theft with the additional elements of using force or threatening the use of force in order to steal. The force or threat of force must take place before the theft or at the time of the theft. The force or threat of force must be with intent to steal. Force used or threatened to avoid being caught after committing theft does not turn that theft into a robbery. A person might, for example, leave a shop with an item they had not paid for. Theft is the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intent permanently to deprive. Assuming that is what the person leaving the shop intended, theft has already been completed when he or she left the shop. Force then used against a staff member who had seen the theft would not be robbery but a separate offence of assault or assault with intent to resist lawful apprehension contrary to Sections 36, 39 or 40 of the Offences Against the Person Ordinance (Chapter 212).