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HCCC 58/2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 58 OF 2015
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge S D’Almada Remedios |
| Date: |
26 January 2016 at 9.42 am |
| Present: |
Mr John McNamara, on fiat, for HKSAR |
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Mr John P Marray, instructed by Eric Cheung & Lau, 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 have pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. You have admitted on 12 August 2014 at Sha Tin you unlawfully trafficked in 4.45 kilogrammes of a crystalline solid containing 4.402 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride otherwise commonly known as ‘Ice’.
On the night of 12 August 2014, police officers stopped a taxi in which you were a passenger. At that time, you were in possession of a rucksack. The rucksack contained the drugs as mentioned in the charge. Upon arrest and caution at the scene you remained silent.
The street value of the drugs was approximately $1,875,900 as at that date.
Prior to sentencing you, I called for a psychological report as your counsel, Mr Marray, had informed me that you had received some counselling whilst in remand since your arrest and it was not known what that was for. The contents of the report, as I understand from Mr Marray, are admitted and it appears from this report that counselling was commenced upon you immediately upon your remand shortly after your arrest. As stated in the conclusion of the report, very sadly, you are an individual who had a poor self-image and yearned for love since you were very young. It appeared that you are clearly a person who can be easily swayed by the sense of belonging and affection, and Mr Marray says this is precisely why you were led into the commission of this offence.
You have also had a history of self-harm or attempted self‑harm acts, and of concern to me is one very recently when it appears that your boyfriend had not visited you for two weeks and you did that again. I am assured by the psychologist that you will continue to have treatment whilst in remand and this will be managed, and so will your mood management and self-image management be seen to.
From your heartfelt letter that you wrote to me, it appears that you now realise the importance of your family. They are supporting you in this difficult time and now, I hope, you understand that it is time to reform yourself, work hard, study hard and live a law-abiding and humble life when you are eventually released. I have taken into account all the letters written on your behalf and of course those, particularly from your parents, who ask for leniency on your behalf.
Defendant, you are 23 years of age, and were 22 at the commission this offence and are of clear record. Up until six months prior to this offence, you had been in very gainful employment. It is clear to me that in the six months that you remained idle, you had associated with dubious peers and, as a result, you were led into the commission of this offence. You, perhaps rather naively, trusted your supposedly good friend to assist her to take or carry these drugs on her behalf. Clearly you now know that that was a person who was not to be trusted.
Defendant, clearly the amount of drugs to which you were trafficking in is a considerably large amount. Your young age, clear record, or personal difficult circumstances are not mitigating factors to reduce the proper term to which you should serve. The strongest mitigating factor is of course your plea of guilty.
Recently the Court of Appeal laid down new guidelines for trafficking in ‘Ice’ in Tam Yi Chun, and that follows the guidelines as laid down by Abdallah. For amounts between 4,000 and 15,000 grammes the starting point for sentence had you been convicted after trial would have been one of between 26 and 30 years’ imprisonment.
You had trafficked in 4,402 grammes of ‘Ice’. Had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 26 years’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term shall be reduced to one of 17 years and 4 months’ imprisonment to which you shall so serve. I would also like to add that there were no special circumstances in this case to reduce the sentence any further.
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