COURT: The defendant originally pleaded not guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, and was committed to the Court of First Instance on 20 November 2023 for trial.
On 3 April 2024, his trial was listed and fixed for 7 days from 8 September 2025. A case management hearing was set down for 26 March 2025. However, on 13 March 2025, the defendant’s legal team received instructions from the defendant that he intended to plead guilty to this count. The court was informed by letter of this decision on 15 March 2025.
Today, he pleads guilty and admits the Summary of Facts. He has pleaded guilty to unlawfully trafficking in 1,751 grammes of a mixture containing 1,366 grammes of heroin hydrochloride on 3 November 2022 in a shopping complex in Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon.
The facts are straight-forward. On 3 November 2022, at about 9 pm, a group of police officers were patrolling inside Choi Wan Commercial Complex on the 4th floor. They saw the defendant holding a black plastic bag and instructed him to stop for some questions. Instead of stopping, the defendant ran away, throwing the black plastic bag over the railing and onto the podium of the 2nd floor.
The defendant was subdued and the black plastic bag retrieved. The police found five blocks of heroin inside it. The defendant was arrested. The average retail price in November 2022 means this amount of heroin was valued at $1,518,117.
Mitigation
I have heard full mitigation from defence counsel, Ms Tsang. She has said all she can say on behalf of the defendant. He is not a man with a clear record, but has no similar previous convictions. He has one previous conviction for theft in 2022. He is a Form 8 holder here in Hong Kong.
The defendant is Vietnamese national and now 35 years old. He arrived in Hong Kong illegally in July 2021. A removal order was issued against him on 17 August 2021. Just after this order was issued, he lodged a non-refoulement claim.
I have been told that he is single, but has an 8-year-old son with a long-term girlfriend back in Vietnam. He fled Vietnam because he had borrowed money to start his own business, but the COVID pandemic meant it failed, and he was unable to repay his debt. Facing death threats, he fled Vietnam for Hong Kong. I have been told that about one year before his arrest for this offence, he developed a habit of consuming heroin.
Ms Tsang has urged the court to consider a discount of 25 per cent to reflect his plea, although it was not a plea at the earliest opportunity. He was acting as a courier on the date of his arrest delivering heroin from A to B for a reward. The defendant now pleads guilty to reflect his remorse and desire to return home as soon as possible. Ms Tsang also accepts that there is an aggravating factor here, and that is the defendant being a Form 8 holder when arrested.
Sentencing
I have considered the approach to sentencing those that traffic in dangerous drugs. With the Court of Appeal’s guidance in the most recent authority, HKSAR v Lee Ming Ho [2024] HKCA 150, I now consider the six steps as set out in HKSAR v Herry Jane Yusuph [2021] 1 HKLRD 290.
Those six steps include assessing the gravity of the offence and applicable guideline, identifying the defendant’s role, where within the guideline the defendant should lie, any aggravating factors, any mitigating factors, and, lastly, passing a sentence which is fair, just and balanced in all the circumstances of the offence and the defendant.
The first step is to assess the gravity of the offence and identify the applicable guideline according to the drugs seized. Taking into account the latest guidelines in HKSAR v Huang Ruifang [2025] HKCA 234, the starting point for trafficking in heroin between 500 and 1,500 grammes is 16 to 20 years’ imprisonment. Mathematically, trafficking in 1,366 grammes attracts a starting point of 19 years and 5 months’ imprisonment.
I am satisfied that the role of the defendant in this case was that of a courier. That is a position at the bottom of the hierarchy of drug traffickers, therefore, the mathematical starting point should apply.
The fourth and fifth steps require me to consider whether there are any aggravating factors or any exceptional mitigating factors. Here, there are no mitigating factors. However, it is an aggravating factor that the defendant is a Form 8 recognizance holder which warrants an enhancement of this sentence. Therefore, given the quantity of heroin involved, I enhance that starting point above by one year.
I will reduce the now 20-year and 5-month term of imprisonment by 25 per cent to reflect the timing of the defendant’s plea. After that discount is applied, the defendant is sentenced to 15 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
Lastly, in light of the circumstances of both the offence and the defendant, I consider this to be a fair, just and balanced sentence.
I repeat, after plea, the defendant is sentenced to 15 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.