Those offences occurred on 24 December of 2018, when you were intercepted in the vicinity of Tower 11, Tierra Verde, Tsing Yi, having just left Flat A on the 23rd floor of Tower 11. At that moment in time, you shouted to alert your wife to the fact that there were police outside of the flat. As a result, a bag was jettisoned from the flat by your wife, which was later recovered from the podium floor outside of Tower 11, and 789 grammes of cocaine was found to be within it as well as other paraphernalia. The 57.4 grammes of cocaine was found within a cupboard in your flat as well as other items containing traces of cocaine.
Upon arrest and caution, you suggested you were simply keeping the drugs found within the flat for a friend. As far as the drugs found in the bag which had been thrown out of the window were concerned, as is your right, you remained silent.
The estimated street value of the drugs which, as recovered, amounted to 1,614 grammes in gross weight, at $1,035 per gramme, was $1,670,490.
You are 33 years of age, educated to Form 4, and were unemployed at the time of your arrest, but you had previously been employed as a chef until an injury in 2016, which caused you to become unemployed.
You have three criminal matters recorded against you in 2010, when you were just 20, but they all appear to be connected to each other and are matters of dishonesty. For that offending, you received a training centre order. Until this offending in 2018, you appear to have remained out of trouble.
You are married and lived at Flat A with your wife and two very young children.
The guideline case for trafficking in in between 600 and 1,200 grammes of cocaine is HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437, and the range of sentence is between 20 and 23 years.
The difference in the narcotic content of the drugs under Count 1 and Count 2 differs significantly and the paraphernalia recovered suggests that you were cutting the cocaine with another agent. If that is the case, you were not simply a courier or a storekeeper.
I doubt you had the sort of money to purchase this quantity of drugs to enter into business of your own. The evidence suggests that you were being given drugs to cut and then sell on at a further profit on behalf of someone else. There is therefore evidence that your role was not one of a simple courier or storekeeper and so, in accordance with HKSAR v Herry Jane Yusuph, CACC 93/2019, [2020] HKCA 974, I consider that an enhancement of 6 months is appropriate to the overall starting point for sentence.
For the 789 grammes of cocaine under Count 1, the guideline case under HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437 indicates a starting point after trial is 20 years and 9 months.
The guideline case for amounts less than 600 grammes is HKSAR v Lau Tak Ming [1990] HKLR 370. For trafficking in between 50 and 200 grammes, the range is 8 to 12 years. So for trafficking in 57.4 grammes under Count 2, the appropriate starting point after trial would be 8 years.
If they were added together, you would be looking at a starting point after trial of 28 years and 10 months. That clearly does not reflect your culpability. These two counts arise from the same facts. If I added the drugs identified in the two counts together, that would amount to 846.4 grammes of cocaine, which would attract a starting point for sentence of 21 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
However, as I have indicated, I intend to enhance the overall sentence by 6 months to reflect your role in this matter. That would make an overall sentence of 21 years and 9 months.
There has been some delay in these proceedings but they cannot be laid wholly at your door. The court asked that the matter be reconsidered at the first case management hearing, and at the second case management hearing you were not represented as your Legal Aid certificate had been discharged.
That might very well have been your fault but you were nevertheless unrepresented, and I am not going to hold your indication that you wished to reverse your plea at that time against you, as you sensibly listened to advice once Mrs Remedios was instructed. You will therefore receive a full one-third discount for your early plea.
You will go to prison on Count 1 for a period of 13 years and 10 months, and on Count 2 for a period of 5 years and 4 months, 8 months of which is to be served consecutively with your sentence on Count 1.
That makes a total sentence of imprisonment of 14 years and 6 months.