HKSAR v. TANG KWOK KEI

CACC 508/2000

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

criminal APPEAL NO.508 OF 2000

(ON APPEAL FROM HCCC 161 of 2000)

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J U D G M E N T

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Stuart-Moore, VP (giving the judgment of the Court):

Background

1.  On 27 November 2000, the applicant, aged 27, was convicted in the Court of First Instance, following a trial before Deputy Judge Toh and a jury, on charges of manufacturing heroin hydrochloride (count 3), possession of firearms and ammunition without a licence (count 4) and two counts of trafficking in dangerous drugs (counts 5 and 6).  He was sentenced on the same day to a total of twenty-five years’ imprisonment.

2.  Initially, the applicant sought leave to appeal against conviction on all counts.  This application was due to be heard on 1 August 2001.  The applicant, however, did not pursue his application and it was dismissed.  The application for leave to appeal against sentence in the case of his co-defendant (D1), who pleaded guilty at trial, continued in his absence.  Most of the relevant facts of the case are set out in the judgment handed down on 7 August 2001 (also CACC 508/2000).  The applicant in these proceedings was not charged with the offences in counts 1 and 2.

The application

3.  The applicant now applies for leave to appeal, on a notice dated 6 May 2004, well in excess of three years out of time.  His reason for doing so is stated by him to have been the cooperation he has extended to the authorities.  This has been fully investigated and, in the outcome, we are informed, as the applicant himself accepts, that there is nothing he has done which has yielded any useful assistance.

Conclusion

4.  Accordingly, leave to appeal out of time is refused.  The sentence was appropriate in all the circumstances and, there being no merit in the application, it is dismissed.