COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty at the committal stage to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The particulars of which is that you on 20 June 2022, in Tuen Mun, unlawfully trafficked in a dangerous drug, namely 95.6 grammes of a solid containing 41 grammes of cocaine.
The facts of the case is this. At around 11.20 pm on 20 June 2022, police were on patrol along Castle Peak Road - Hung Shui Kiu, Tuen Mun, when they spotted you near the lamppost holding a black object, some four to six metres away from them. After police disclosed his identity, you threw the black object that you were carrying into the bushes and walked away quickly. You were intercepted some five metres away.
The black object that you have thrown into the bushes was retrieved and found to contain a black plastic bag containing four transparent plastic bags containing 95.6 grammes of a solid containing 41 grammes of cocaine, and also four transparent plastic bags containing 94 grammes of a powder which do not contain any controlled substance.
The estimated street value of the cocaine seized is $79,922 if it was cocaine powder and $120,169 if it was crack cocaine.
You were then arrested for trafficking in dangerous drugs. In video-recorded interviews, you stated under caution you were educated up to Form 3, was unemployed with no income. You lived with your parents and younger brother at Shek Lei (II) Estate.
You also admitted that you had gone to Nai Wai by taxi to meet a friend called Ah Ming. After a meal with him, you went to the bus stop outside Nai Wai and picked up the black plastic bag. You thought that the bag may have contained drugs and you say that you are not a drug addict.
You now accept and admit at the material time, you were in possession of dangerous drugs seized for the purpose of unlawful trafficking.
For the quantity of cocaine found on you, you fall into the sentence range of 5 to 8 years as the cocaine is between 10 to 50 grammes. There is no evidence before me to suggest your role other than a courier. I am therefore prepared to deal with you at the lowest end of culpability. I therefore take an initial starting point of 7 years and 3 months.
You are 21 years old and had received education up to Secondary 3. You are unemployed at the time of the offence. You were born in China and came to Hong Kong in 2012 when you were only 10 or 11 years old.
You started to run into trouble with the law in 2017, some five years after you came to Hong Kong when you were a juvenile. You committed a POOW in May 2017. Shortly after that you also commit another offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs which was committed in August 2017, some three months apart or less than three months apart. For the POOW offence, you were placed on probation then the sentence was reviewed and you were sent to rehabilitation centre. Whereas for the TDD case, you were given police bail.
You did not learn any lesson from the time that you spent in the rehabilitation centre and while you were still subject to their supervision, you absconded in that you jumped bail in the TDD case while you were still under supervision from the rehabilitation centre. You remained at large from April 2018, that is after you were released from the rehabilitation centre, until December 2018.
After your apprehension, you were sent to training centre for the TDD case. I have no doubt that you have been given a second chance because of your youth. You were released from training centre on 18 February 2022. You are subjected to a supervision order until August 2023 and I am sure you know that you will be liable to be recalled if you commit any further offence during the supervision period.
Again, you did not treasure this second opportunity given to you by the court. You were arrested and convicted of gambling in a gambling establishment and the date of offence is 13 May 2022, some three months after your release from the training centre.
I do not understand if you are in financial difficulty as you are unemployed because of COVID, how can you afford to gamble? Other than that, you were also arrested for a taking conveyance without authority.
From what I have been told and which you admitted, you committed the present offence while you were on bail for the gambling matter and the taking conveyance without authority. I am afraid this sort of background aggravate the offence for which I have to sentence you now.
With these aggravating factors, I adopt an ultimate starting point of 7 years and 9 months, that is an enhancement of 6 months. Other than your timely plea for which I will give you a one-third discount, I see no other mitigating factors.
You are therefore sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 5 years and 2 months.