HKSAR v. TANG MAN KEUNG

HCCC 100/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 100 OF 2015

(Arising from FLCC 4908/2014)

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REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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1. Following the defendant’s plea of guilty to charges of trafficking and possession of a dangerous drug in the Magistrate’s Court, he was committed for sentence to this Court.

2. The facts in support of the convictions can be briefly stated as follows.  At around 12.33pm, on 28 August 2014, the defendant was intercepted by customs officers as he was exiting the nothing-to-declare channel at the Customs Arrival Hall at the Lo Wu Control Point, New Territories.  He was searched and found on him were two packets of ICE which were wrapped around his waist with cling film.  A very small packet of ICE was also found in the rear pocket of his shorts.  He was arrested and under caution admitted that he was delivering the ICE for others in return for $10,000 and that he was to await further instructions after he passed through customs.  The drugs found in the pocket of his shorts were a small amount that he admitted came from the drugs he was carrying which were given to him for his own consumption.  He admitted that he was instructed by a friend to go to Shenzhen to help a Mainlander by the nickname of “Tall Man”.  He stayed in a hotel overnight and the next day “Tall Man” wrapped the two packets of drugs around his waist and told him to return to Hong Kong to receive his reward of $10,000 for the delivery.  Tall Man took a small quantity of the drugs from one of the packets and gave it to the defendant for his self consumption.

3. The two packets of drugs around his waist consisted of a total of 1,984g of a crystalline solid containing 1,896g of methamphetamine hydrochloride and the small packet of drugs in his shorts’ pocket consisted of 2.17g of a crystalline solid containing 2.13g of the same drug which is commonly referred to as ICE. The total street value of the drugs was $846,108.42.

4. The defendant is 51 years of age.  At the time of the offence he worked as a decoration worker and lived in a public housing estate with his wife and two children.  He has a son aged 17 years and a daughter aged 6 years.  He has submitted a letter to the Court expressing remorse and asking to be treated leniently.  There is very little that can be advanced on his behalf in mitigation.  He has a poor criminal record with a number of previous convictions for drug offences for which he has variously received DATC and terms of imprisonment with the most substantial being 40 months’ imprisonment for trafficking in drugs.  He is a drug abuser and has an addiction to ICE and Heroin. This probably made him particularly vulnerable to the influences of the drug syndicate operators who were behind this shipment of drugs from Mainland China to Hong Kong.  I note however he has had an addiction for a long time and he has been before the courts on many occasions for drug related offences but has failed to correct his ways and face the responsibility to his children that he now claims he concerned about.  It is regretted that he did not bear them in mind when he committed this offence for he now has to serve a long prison sentence. 

5. The Court of Appeal recently in HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun [2014] 3 HKLRD 691 revised the sentencing tariffs for a person convicted of trafficking of ICE as contained in AG v Ching Kwong Hung [1991] 2 HKLR 125.  This decision was handed down on 9 June 2014.  The offence in this case took place on 28 August 2014, after the decision of the Court of Appeal and therefore the new sentencing guidelines apply.  

6. I note that the defendant had a small quantity of drugs for his self-consumption and given the large quantity of drugs he has admitted he trafficked from Mainland China into Hong Kong any sentence for possessing these drugs is inconsequential.  I therefore sentence the defendant to 6 months’ imprisonment for this offence which I make concurrent to the sentence I am about to impose for the trafficking offence.  The quantity of drugs in relation to the trafficking offence was 1,896g of ICE and according to the tariff case a starting point of 22½ years’ imprisonment should be imposed.  There is also an international element in that the drugs were being imported into Hong Kong from Mainland China and accordingly the defendant’s sentence will be enhanced by 1½ years.  The total starting point is 24 years’ imprisonment which is discounted by one-third for his plea of guilty and accordingly the defendant is sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment.