HKSAR v. TANG KWAI CHI, GI GI

CACC 74/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO 74 OF 2013

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NO 1023 OF 2012)

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J U D G M E N T

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1.  The applicant seeks leave to appeal against a sentence of 26 months’ imprisonment imposed on her on 21 February 2013 by District Court Judge Tallentire following her plea of guilty to a single charge of unlawfully trafficking in dangerous drugs.

2.  The drugs concerned were 3.72 grammes of a mixture containing 1.72 grammes of heroin hydrochloride, 0.78 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 0.76 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or “Ice”, and some tablets of midazolam and nimetazepam which the judge ignored for purposes of sentencing.

3.  As the judge noted in his reasons for sentence, the commission of the offence occurred in these circumstances.  Police officers observed the applicant coming out of a room in Tai Wing House in the late afternoon of 10 August 2012. Once they had revealed their identity and stated their intended purpose of investigation, the applicant returned to the flat and locked the door, refusing to open it, so the police broke it down.

4.  When they did so, you took out from the right pocket of your dress a transparent resealable plastic bag which contained the drugs the subject of the charge. Under caution, you admitted that you were in the process of going out to sell the drugs.  You said that you did so because you could not get a job and you needed to sell drugs to make a living.  You explained in a video record of interview that the money, $2,200, found in your possession had been received by the sale of some of the drugs that you had bought earlier for $5,000.  The remainder was that which was found in your possession.

5.  The judge noted that you have 13 previous criminal convictions.  Those convictions are for offences of theft, burglary, possession of dangerous drugs, and for, more recently, two offences of trafficking in dangerous drugs.  Those convictions and the sentences were imposed in 2012 and 2010 respectively.

6.  The judge stated in sentencing that there were two aggravating features in the case, one the fact that the drugs were a cocktail, or mixture of drugs, and the second that you had a poor criminal record.

7.  In sentencing, the judge stated that he took a combined approach to the task of sentencing having regard to the different kinds of drugs in which you were unlawfully trafficking.  He stated that the only factor of mitigation was your plea of guilty.  He took a starting point of 39 months’ imprisonment which, with a discount of one-third for your plea of guilty, resulted in him imposing a sentence of 26 months’ imprisonment.

8.  In my judgment, the judge’s approach to sentence and the sentence of imprisonment imposed on you was entirely appropriate.  Clearly, as was appropriate, he dealt with sentence on a combined approach to the dangerous drugs involved.

9.  The application for leave to appeal against sentence is refused.