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HCCC 451/2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 451 OF 2015
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge S D’Almada Remedios |
| Date: |
14 January 2016 at 10.34 am |
| Present: |
Ms Claudia Ng, PP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR |
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Mr Bruce C H Tse, instructed by Cheung & Liu, assigned by D.L.A. for the accused |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: Defendant, you pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to 4(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. You admitted that on 29 January 2015, at Yee Wa Building, Un Chau Street, Cheung Sha Wan, you unlawfully trafficked in 595.5 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 592 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. Your plea was entered before the magistrate on 20 November 2015 and you were committed to the High Court for sentence.
At about 7.35 pm on the date stated in the charge, police officers saw you getting out of a taxi outside Yee Wa Building and rushing towards the lift lobby in the building. You were intercepted and searched.
Inside your jacket and trousers pocket, as well as between the waist and your trousers, five plastic bags containing the amount of the drugs stated in the charge were found. You were arrested and cautioned, and under caution you said, “I drag the ‘Ice’ for someone.”
In the video-recorded interview later on you said that you were asked by someone called “Hung Chai” to deliver drugs for him for a reward of $4,000 and therefore you agreed. On the day of your arrest, you had met up with Hung Chai and he gave you the drugs and told you to wait for further instructions. However, Hung Chai did not give you further instructions so you decided to go home by taxi. You were then intercepted by police officers when you alighted from the taxi.
The estimated street value of the drugs was $253,088.
Your counsel, Mr Bruce Tse has made full mitigation on your behalf. I have taken into account what he has had to say. You are 52 years of age and were born in Hong Kong. You have 20 previous convictions, nine of which are related to drugs, three of those are for trafficking in dangerous drugs which dates back to 1983, 1988 and 2007. The remainder of those similar to drugs are for possession of dangerous drugs. You are now single and have two children aged 21 and 16.
Mr Bruce pointed out that at the very earliest opportunity you had pleaded guilty, that is before the Magistrates’ Court, and also upon arrest you immediately admitted committing this offence. As is correctly pointed out by Mr Tse strongest mitigating factor is your plea of guilty, there are no other mitigating factors.
The relevant tariff for trafficking in ‘Ice’ on the date you committed this offence is that as stated in HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun. In that case, the Court of Appeal recast the sentencing guidelines for trafficking in ‘Ice’.
The tariff to be imposed after trial in trafficking between 300 and 600 grammes is to be 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment. You had trafficked in 592 grammes of ‘Ice’ and had you been sentenced after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 19 years and 9 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit of the usual one-third discount, that sentence shall be reduced to one of 13 years and 2 months’ imprisonment to which you shall so serve.
Despite your similar convictions, I have not considered that an aggravating factor such as to enhance the starting point as those offences were committed a long time ago and the latest one was committed some seven years ago.
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