HKSAR v. CHUNG TSAN KUEN

HCMA 1267/2003

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 1267 OF 2003

(ON APPEAL FROM KCCC 18235/2003)

____________

____________

_______________

J U D G M E N T

_______________

1. The Appellant appeals against his sentence. He was found in possession of a cigarette containing cocaine when his room was searched.

2. The Appellant is 18 years old and has seven previous convictions. He had in the past been sent, on three occasions, to a drug-addiction treatment centre and, on four occasions, he was given probation.

3. The learned Magistrate, after the Appellant had pleaded guilty to possession of a dangerous drug, called for reports both from the probation service and the DATC and it is clear that the Appellant was still a drug addict or drug-dependant at the time he was sentenced and that the Appellant had been taking a mixture - a cocktail - of drugs ranging from heroin, "ice", cocaine, to "ecstasy".

4. The Appellant in the Magistrates' Court, had also submitted to the learned Magistrate that he could undergo voluntary treatment but the learned Magistrate had sent the Appellant to a drug-addiction treatment centre.

5. Drug Addiction Treatment Centre is not a punishment so much as an aid to rehabilitating the Appellant because if the Appellant continues to have a drug problem, then it is inevitable that he would turn to crime to feed his addiction.

6. The Appellant, in this appeal, maintains that he has confidence that he could stay away from drugs, if given the chance but, as the learned Magistrate correctly noted, this promise is completely without substance judging from his past performance.

7. I do not find any grounds at all for overturning the learned Magistrate's sentence, so the appeal is dismissed.