COURT: Defendant, on 3 May 2022, you pleaded guilty before a magistrate to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
You admitted that on 30 September 2020, at the junction of Shanghai Street and Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, you unlawfully trafficked in 702 grammes of a mixture containing 624 grammes of heroin hydrochloride. On the same date before the magistrate, you admitted to the Summary of Facts, as a result of which you have been committed here to the Court of First Instance for sentence.
The facts of this case are that at about 3.35 pm on 30 September 2020, a patrolling police officer saw you acting furtively on a street in Yau Ma Tei. You were then intercepted. The officer asked you why you were in such haste. You replied you were “delivering thing for others”.
The police officer then searched the bag that you carried, inside of which contained a mooncake box. Contained in there was a plastic bag containing the drugs in the quantity as stated in the charge. The bag had written on it a number 712.7. You had in your possession cash of $940 and a mobile phone.
Soon after your interception, you tried to flee, but was subdued.
In a video-recorded interview made under caution later, you admitted that you had collected the bag of drugs from a man called ‘Ah Bun’ in a park nearby. He told you to deliver the bag of drugs to someone in Sham Shui Po. After delivery of the drug, you would be rewarded $2,000. You knew Ah Bun because you had made previous drug purchases from him. You knew the bag contained dangerous drugs.
Upon further investigation, there was no house search conducted because you claimed to have no fixed place of abode.
The street value of the heroin seized was estimated to be about $1,053,702.
Defendant, you have 17 previous convictions and nine of them are related to possession of dangerous drugs and two of them are related to equipment used for smoking dangerous drugs. You were last released from custody, that is from DATC, in October 2018. For this offence, you were arrested in September 2020.
In regards to your antecedents, defendant, you were born in Hong Kong. You are now aged 43. You are divorced with a child.
Your counsel, Mr Chau Hing-pang, has submitted to me written submissions in mitigation. As a matter of background, at the time of this offence, you were unemployed. However, after your release from DATC, you worked as a tow car driver, earning approximately $23,000 a month and later as a delivery worker, earning about $20,000 a month. You then married around the year 2000 and a son was born. However, shortly after your marriage, your wife sought a divorce, as a result of which you were effectively removed from the home and became a street sleeper. Due to the social unrest in 2019, you became jobless and had remained so from that time.
You have written a letter to me also in mitigation, which I have seen the reasons why you committed this offence and are remorseful for doing so. You stated quite clearly here you have been taking drugs from a young age. You have been a drug addict for more than 20 years. In the past, you purchased drugs from your own wages. However, due to the social movement in 2019, the pandemic, the loss of your job, the loss of your marriage, you have faced great difficulties.
As Mr Chau said, with your deep-rooted drug addiction, no job, no income, no home, you finally succumbed to Ah Bun’s persuasion and agreed to help him deliver drugs for $2,000. On this basis, on the fact of this case, you were clearly a courier.
You have said in your letter that you all the while have had convictions for possession of dangerous drugs of which were short terms of imprisonment. This is the first time you have committed a trafficking offence and you realised that you are going to be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, as a result of which you may not be able to see your parents again.
Defendant, as Mr Chau has said, the guidelines for sentencing are laid down in the cases of Lau Tak Ming and Abdallah Anwar Abbas. For the present quantity of 624 grammes, it falls within the quantity of between 600 to 1,200 grammes, which attracts a starting point of between 20 and 23 years’ imprisonment after trial.
Defendant, you have pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. This clearly shows your remorse. Had you been convicted after trial, your appropriate sentence would be one of 20 years’ imprisonment.
Giving you a full one-third discount, your sentence should be reduced and you will be ordered to serve a term of 13 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.