COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to the offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug before a magistrate on 4 September this year and was committed to the Court of First Instance for sentence. According to the Summary of Facts which he admitted at the time of his guilty plea, at about 1.45 am on 20 February 2024, the police spotted the defendant acting furtively at the driver’s seat of a light goods vehicle with registration number WY401 which was parked outside a building on Argyle Street in Mong Kok.
Upon his interception for police enquiry and search of the light goods vehicle, the police found one transparent resealable plastic bag containing all the drug involved in the charge, that is 13.7 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 13.6 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as ‘Ice’. The drug was found inside the container at the armrest of the driver’s seat. It has an estimated street value of HK$8,055.60.
At the time, the defendant also had two mobile phones, cash of HK$1,673 and RMB¥325 with him.
Upon his arrest, the defendant stated under caution that he was delivering the drug to Tsim Sha Tsui for monetary reward of HK$1,000.
In a later video-recorded interview, the defendant said he was a GoGoVan driver, and at that time he parked his light goods vehicle on Argyle Street to wait for an order. The drug found in the light goods vehicle was for his own consumption and he was a habitual user of ‘Ice’.
He now accepts and admits that at all material times, he knowingly possessed all the drug seized for the purpose of unlawful trafficking.
The defendant is now 51 years of age. He was 49 years old at the time of the offence. He has received education up to Form 1 and he worked as a GoGoVan driver at the time of his arrest, earning a monthly salary of about HK$18,000. He claimed to be a habitual user of ‘Ice’ and he was homeless at the time of his arrest.
According to his criminal record, he had criminal convictions for eight sets of offences including three offences of possession of dangerous drug and two offences for trafficking in dangerous drug. For the trafficking offences, he was first convicted of trafficking on 29 November 2017 and was sentenced to 44 months’ imprisonment. Subsequently, on 5 October 2022 he was also convicted of trafficking in dangerous drug and was sentenced to 28 months and 12 days’ imprisonment. I was informed that he was just discharged from the Tong Fuk Prison on 27 August 2023. That means it was less than half a year before he committed the present offence.
In mitigation, defence counsel Ms Vivien Chan informed me that the defendant is a divorced person with two children now living with his wife. He has no fixed abode at the time of his arrest. He was a drug addict and before his arrest, he took ‘Ice’ every day. He was addicted to drug, and he was just discharged from the Tong Fuk Prison in August 2023. As he was unable to afford his addiction, he committed the present offence.
Counsel submitted that he was only at the lowest rank in the hierarchy, merely a courier who helped in the delivery of the drug in accordance with instruction. Counsel rightly accepted that his criminal record can be an aggravating feature that may enhance the starting point of his sentence. She urged this court to take into account his remorse, that he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and urged this court to give him a lenient sentence. Counsel also confirmed that the defendant would not rely on self-consumption in his mitigation.
In sentencing the defendant, I bear in mind the principles set out in by the Court of Appeal in the cases of HKSAR v Herry Jane Yusuph [2021] 1 HKLRD 290 and HKSAR v Lee Ming Ho [2024] 1 HKLRD 1186.
According to the revised guidelines in the case of HKSAR v Huang Ruifang (No 3) [2025] 2 HKLRD 138, the starting point for trafficking in between 10 to 70 grammes of ‘Ice’ narcotic is 7 to 11 years’ imprisonment after trial, so the mathematical starting point for trafficking in 13.6 grammes of ‘Ice’ narcotic would be 7 years and 2 months’ imprisonment. The mathematical starting point is appropriate for persons at the lower bottom of the drug-trafficking hierarchy such as storekeepers and couriers. In this case, I accept that the defendant was merely a courier, so the mathematical starting point of 7 years and 2 months’ imprisonment is the one that I will adopt.
Coming to his personal background. Clearly he is a persistent offender especially when drug-related offences are concerned. He has a total of three previous convictions for the offence of possession of dangerous drug and two for the offence of trafficking in dangerous drug. The present offence was committed within half a year of his discharge from prison from another trafficking in dangerous drug offence.
It appears that the sentence imposed for the trafficking offences in 2017 and 2022 failed to deter him from staying away from drug. As such, it would be appropriate to treat this aggravating feature as one that would enhance his starting point by 10 months. So the notional sentence after trial would be raised to that of 8 years’ imprisonment.
The defendant pleaded guilty at an early stage and he is entitled to a full one-third discount. Other than that, I do not see anything in his personal background or in his family circumstances that would justify any meaningful discount. As such, after the one-third discount, he is sentenced to a total of 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment, and this is the sentence I impose on him.