CRIMINAL CASE NO. 114 OF 2011
COURT: The defendant pleads guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134.
Defendant went with another person to China, via Lok Ma Chau, and returned to Hong Kong several hours later. She was seen boarding a taxi with that other person. Whilst on its way to Mongkok the taxi was stopped by police officers.
Defendant was searched and a packet, which she claimed to be tea leaves, was found in her possession. The contents turned out to be ice. Under caution she said that she did not know why the packet was in her bag. Further, a glass tube was found in her handbag and she claimed to use it to consume ice. Upon analysis, the drugs were found to be 99.26 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 94.08 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, with a retail value of $71,566.
Defendant is aged 29. She has four previous records of which one was drug-related and dated back to June 2001. In February 2009, for breach of community service order she was sentenced to the DATC. She was discharged from the DATC on 5 August 2010 and in just less than two months she committed the present offence.
By way of mitigation, I was told the defendant had abstained from her vice habit of drug-taking, having met her boyfriend some 10 days after her discharge from the DATC. However, due to some misunderstanding, they quarrelled, and that was what caused her and the other friend to go the Shenzhen for merriment. Feeling frustrated she purchased the present drugs and took them back to Hong Kong intending for her own consumption. The gravamen of the present case is the cross‑border factor, one which the prosecution accepts as the basis of defendant’s plea to trafficking.
It was advanced by defence counsel that a large portion of the drugs were for the defendant’s own consumption. I take into account the following factors following those laid down in the case of Wong Suet Hau. The present case involved 94.08 grammes of ice and the retail value of $71,000-odd. The drugs were contained in one big packet. They were carried in a public place and the only other paraphernalia found in the defendant’s possession was one glass tube.
Whilst the defendant only had one previous conviction relating to drugs back in 2001, she was sentenced to the DATC and discharged in August, which, presumably, she was clear of the vice habit. I have also taken into account, on being searched, at no time did she say that those drugs were for her own consumption. Instead, her first reply was that those are tea leaves. It was later when the glass tube was found that she said she consumed drugs.
I have also taken into account what was advanced by defence counsel as to her general means; that she was allegedly gainfully employed. However, travelling records show that she was only in Shenzhen briefly before her return to Hong Kong. Her explanation of going to Shenzhen with an original aim of seeking merriment but did have with her $30,000-odd to pay for the drugs when a convenient opportunity presented itself, is simply too good to be true.
Taking into account all the above factors, I am not satisfied that a significant portion was intended for self‑consumption, nor was any of such portion for self‑consumption readily discernible or quantifiable, although I do accept that she would receive a tiny portion therefrom as a reward for bringing the drugs back to Hong Kong.
In sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account facts of the present case, the drugs involved and the sentencing tariff, that it falls within a starting point of 10 to 14 years and I have taken into account defendant’s guilty plea and mitigation forwarded. Whilst the cross-border factor is an aggravating feature, I am prepared to sentence on the basis that a tiny, unquantifiable portion would be for her own consumption.
With all those in mind, I consider a starting point of 10½ years appropriate. She is entitled to a full one-third discount on her guilty plea. She is sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment.