CRIMINAL CASE NO. 39 OF 2009
HKSAR
v.
Cheung Mei-kuen
----------------------
Before: H H Judge Browne
Date: 8 April 2009 at 9.41 am
Present: |
Miss Samantha Chiu, PP of the Department of
Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Sit Hoi-wah, of Messrs Kenneth Sit, assigned by the Legal Aid Department, for the Defendant |
Offence: Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物)
Reasons for Sentence
1. The Defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The amount of drugs in this case is 7.96 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
2. The facts admitted by the defendant disclose that on the afternoon of 19 November 2008, police officers aboard a District Special Duty Squad were conducting an anti-dangerous drugs operation in plain clothes at the arrival hall of Lok Ma Chau Control Point. At 7.39 pm that day, the defendant passed through the arrival channel to check in, and the defendant was stopped in the coach boarding area. When the defendant was searched, a transparent plastic bag containing a piece of white tissue was found underneath the back waist of the defendant’s trousers. This was found to contain the drugs, the subject of the charge.
3. The defendant immediately admitted that the drugs was “Ice” and that she had brought it from the mainland. The defendant was subsequently interviewed, and when she was interviewed, she said that a man called Ah Man, whom she had known for a few months, rang her at about 1 pm on 19 November asking her to do a job which she knew was to carry something. She told the police that, at 4 pm on 19 November, she met Ah Man in Mongkok and, after being given some money, she left for the mainland by cross-border coach.
4. Once on the mainland, the defendant rang Ah Man who gave her another telephone number to contact somebody on the mainland. She then went to Huang Bei Ling by taxi and when she reached there, she was approached by an unknown male who dropped a packet into her right pocket of the dress she was wearing. When she was taking the taxi back to Huanggang, she placed the packet of drugs inside her trousers because she was afraid it would drop from her pocket.
5. The defendant has a clear record. I am told that she is 23 years of age and her parents were divorced 10 years ago. She was educated to Form 5 standard, and after leaving school, she worked as a waitress until the restaurant closed in 2007. She has been unemployed since then. She started to cohabit with her boyfriend. He was arrested in November 2008 and needed money to raise bail, and it was for that reason she undertook to become involved in this criminal enterprise.
6. She has been cooperative with the police and has admitted the offence at the first opportunity. I am told that her mother remains supportive. Unfortunately, her mother’s movements are somewhat restrictive because of the effects of treatment she has for cancer. It has affected her left leg. She has come along to court today to show her support for her daughter.
7. As counsel has also said, the authorities indicate that the appropriate sentence for trafficking in this quantity of drugs, which is up to 10 grammes is from 3 to 7 years. The quantity of drugs is 7.96 grammes. I have taken into account the relative young age of the defendant and her clear record. The authorities take trafficking offences very seriously.
8. Taking into account all the circumstances, I have decided to take a starting point in this case of 4 years’ imprisonment and reduce that by one-third to reflect the defendant’s guilty plea. The defendant will go to prison for 32 months.