Background and the Facts
The defendant pleaded guilty before me to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to sections 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134.
Briefly, in the afternoon of 26 July 2013, the police tailed the defendant and when the defendant got off the taxi at Ma Mei Ha, Fanling, the police tried to intercept him. The defendant, however, put up a struggle which resulted in two police officers sustaining some minor injuries. In the end, the defendant was subdued, and upon search, the police found inside the defendant’s waist bag which he was carrying, the drug particularised in the count, that is, a total of 490 grammes of a powder containing 410 grammes of cocaine.
Under caution, the defendant admitted that he had brought the drug there to deliver to another person. The estimated street value of the drug was about HK$472,000.
Mitigation and the Defendant’s Background
The defendant is aged 35 and is single. He was educated up to Form 1 level. At the time of the offence, the defendant was a transportation worker earning about 8,000 to 12,000 per month. Mr Woon for the defendant, informed the court that he had been such a transportation worker for over 20 years.
The defendant has been before the court on four previous occasions with six convictions. Two of those were trafficking in a dangerous drug, one was possession of a dangerous drug and one was possession of Part 1 poison. The others were not drug-related offences.
For the trafficking in a dangerous drug offences, the defendant was respectively sentenced to 6 months’ and 4 months’ imprisonment in July 2003 and December 2004.
In mitigation, it was said that in July 2013, the defendant had 10 days’ work, so he was only able to earn HK$5,000 for that month. In order to make ends meet, the defendant therefore agreed to act as a courier for a reward of HK$2,000. Mr Woon submitted that the defendant therefore did not commit this offence because of greed, but merely because of his financial need.
The Sentence
In AG v Pedro Nel Rojas [1994] 2 HKCLR 69, it was held that the guidelines for heroin trafficking laid down in R v Lau Tak Ming [1992] HKLR 370, were also applicable to the sentencing of cocaine trafficking.
In the case of Lau Tak Ming, trafficking between 400 and 600 grammes of heroin attracts a term of imprisonment of between 15 to 20 years.
Having considered the facts of this case and the amount of 410 grammes of cocaine involved, I consider a starting point of 15 years to be appropriate. The defendant pleaded guilty, so he would receive a one‑third reduction for that. Other than his plea, there is nothing in this case which would warrant any further reduction in sentence. Commission of such a grave offence because of any alleged financial need is, of course, not a mitigating factor.
15 years, reduced by one-third, is 10 years’ imprisonment. The defendant is therefore to serve a term of 10 years’ imprisonment.