CRIMINAL CASE NO. 238 OF 2009
Defendant was intercepted by police officers at the Lo Wu Immigration Control Point upon his arrival from China. Five packets of heroin were found inside the defendant’s waist bag. He told officers, under caution, that he conveyed the drugs for someone, with a reward of $400 per packet. Upon analysis, the drugs were found to be 141.11 grammes of a powder containing 90.51 grammes of heroin hydrochloride. The market value of the drugs at the time was around $69,000-odd.
The defendant has 28 previous convictions, 14 of which are drug related. Three are similar to the present offence. His last conviction was 5 July 2006 for an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs and possession of dangerous drugs. He was sentenced concurrently to the DATC.
By way of mitigation, I was told that the defendant is now aged 53, married, and wife and children are living currently in China. It is said that at the time of the offence he was relying on public assistance. Counsel asked me to take into account his timely plea of guilty which shows his genuine remorse. It is further said that he has been a drug abuser for over 30 years, and in this case he has been recruited as a foot soldier to deliver drugs for just $2,000 to feed his own addiction.
Counsel urged me to exercise leniency in sentencing him so as to enable him to reunite with his family as early as possible.
In sentencing him I have considered his guilty plea, mitigation forwarded by counsel on his behalf, and the existing tariff for trafficking in heroin.
For trafficking in narcotics between 50 to 200 grammes the tariff is one of between 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment. Taking into account the narcotics in the present case, I adopt a starting point of 9½ years’ imprisonment. I shall give him the full one-third discount for his guilty plea. He is sentenced to 76 months’ imprisonment.