At about 8 pm on 10 February 2014, the defendant was intercepted by police officers at the vicinity of Nam Cheong Street. Upon search, the officers found four transparent plastic bags from his sling bag. Each bag contained 25 pellets of heroin hydrochloride. Later, during home search, the officers found another 14 bags from the left pocket of a vest hung inside his room. These bags also contained pellets of heroin hydrochloride.
The defendant admitted that he delivered the drug for Fu Chai, he was promised a reward of $1,500. According to police statistics, the market price for this quantity of drug was about $62,000.
The defendant is 63 years old. He has 20 previous convictions, seven of which were related to drug offences. He was last sentenced to 28 months' imprisonment for trafficking in a dangerous drug in 2011. He was last discharged from prison on 8 November 2013.
He received education up to Form 5. He is married, but separated. He was an addict for 18 years. He was unemployed at the time of the offence. He lived on $3,000 CSSA.
The sentencing tariff of HKSAR v Lau Tak Ming is applicable. For 63.42 grammes of heroin hydrochloride, the starting point should be 8 years and four months’ imprisonment.
Having considered the amount of heroin hydrochloride, the background of the defendant and the mitigation by counsel, I take the starting point at 8 years and four months’ imprisonment. I deduct 2 years and 9 months’ for his plea.
I sentence the defendant to 5 years and 7 months’ imprisonment.