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HCCC232/2009
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 232 OF 2009
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Date:
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6 November 2009 at 4.33 pm
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Present:
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Mr James H M McGowan, on fiat, for HKSAR
Mr S K Khattak (Kelly Lam), instructed by Edmund W H Chow & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Accused
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Offence:
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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: The defendant pleaded guilty to possessing 34.62 grammes of “Ice”, contrary to section 8(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
The drugs were found by police when they were called to the defendant’s premises to resolve a domestic dispute between the defendant and his girlfriend, with whom he cohabited. The drugs were found hidden inside a stool in the premises.
The Medical Officer of the Correctional Services Department has examined the defendant and is of the opinion he is not suitable for admission to a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.
In my judgment, the appropriate sentence, given the quantity of drug involved and the defendant’s past history of drug-related offences, must be one of immediate imprisonment. Given that quantity of drugs, I take a starting point of 16 months’ imprisonment.
In my judgment, contrary to counsel’s submission that there was only a minimal latent risk factor involved in this case, there was, in my view, a significant, though not extreme, risk that these drugs, or some part of them, would find their way into other’s hands. That is because of the quantity of drug involved, the defendant being only casually employed at the time of his arrest, and of his reported association with undesirable elements in our community.
I take into account also that the defendant does have a prior conviction for trafficking in drugs, though that was in 1993.
To reflect the latent risk factor, I enhance the starting point of sentence by 5 months to 21 months. Giving the defendant full credit for his plea of guilty, that starting point of sentence is reduced to a sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment.
The defendant, at the date of this offence, that is, 8 March 2009, was in breach of a 2-month sentence of imprisonment imposed upon him on 22 November 2007 which had been suspended for 18 months. That period of suspension had substantially been complied with. Nevertheless, I order that 1 month of that sentence be activated and served consecutively to the sentence imposed in the present case. That is a total of 15 months’ imprisonment.
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