You will know that sentencing for drug trafficking depends on the application of guidelines which are based on the nature and quantity of the drug.
You fall in the category that runs from 10 to 50 grammes, attracting a starting point after trial of 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment.
It is submitted on your behalf that your role in this drug trafficking was that of someone doing repackaging, taking them out of a larger packet and putting them into smaller packets, and I am minded to accept that in the circumstances.
You cannot claim a clear criminal record, you have previous convictions. It does include a previous conviction for trafficking in dangerous drugs in 2005. But your record is not so bad that I am going to increase the starting point by reason of it.
In all of the circumstances I judge that a starting point of 9 years’ imprisonment to be the right one.
People who plead guilty in Hong Kong receive a one-third discount on their sentence and that is the case whether they plead guilty right at the outset or at the door of the court.
Your plea came on the second day that the case was listed because on the first day there was a voir dire. You were half successful in that voir dire and the factual dispute which you lost did not take up any more than the day that had been set aside and would have be set aside for the part on which you were successful.
In those circumstances I am prepared, as a matter of mercy and looking at the case as a whole, to give you the full one-third discount.
Pleas of guilty are to be encouraged at any stage of proceedings and, of course, beyond it being an indication of some remorse, it does put the result of the case beyond any doubt.
Accordingly the sentence I pass upon you is one of 6 years’ imprisonment.