COURT: Mr Huang, you pleaded guilty before the Eastern Magistrates’ Court on 17 January of this year and you were committed to this court for sentence. You have confirmed that plea today and you stand convicted of one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to sections 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134.
The facts of the case against you have been read out to you and you have agreed them. In summary, you were stopped by the police on the evening of 18 February 2021 and a body search was conducted upon you but nothing was found and so you were released.
However, you were seen by the officers to return to the scene where you collected a spectacle case from a flowerbed. You had clearly discarded it before you were stopped and searched. That case contained the drugs which are the subject of this count. It contained large crystals of heroin hydrochloride which weighed 55.3 grammes but the narcotic content was 46.9 grammes. When the police had noticed that you had returned to the scene and they thought to stop, you then tried to flee.
The value of the drugs in that spectacle case was $75,595.
Upon arrest and caution you said the heroin was for your own consumption which clearly was not true. I am not going to repeat what you said in the interview because that too was not the truth. All I know is that you now accept that you were trafficking in those drugs. Mr Wong tells me that you had resigned from your employment in 2021 and was suffering financially and so you had accepted an offer from someone to traffic in these drugs for a reward of $1,000.
Given your previous lies, I do not accept your explanation but it matters not because you have accepted through your plea that you were trafficking in those drugs.
You are now 44 years of age and have a criminal record although I noticed that your offending started late in life at the age of 35 when you were prosecuted for possession of dangerous drugs. Later the same year, you were found to be in possession of an offensive weapon but then stayed out of trouble until 2021 when you were imprisoned for blackmail and assault.
This offending took place whilst on bail for the blackmail. There appears to be two matters outstanding on your record of jumping bail back in 2014 which is, as Mr Wong has suggested, logic dictates should have been dealt with in 2014. But I know you that you were not dealt with at the 2014 matters at the same time despite being on bail for both simultaneously.
So I am therefore, out of an abundance of caution, going to take them into account today when I deal with the issue of the breach of bail but I make it clear that they have not aggravated the sentence of 3 months’ imprisonment by which I intend to enhance your sentence of imprisonment for that breach of bail of these matters.
Mr Wong has provided written submissions on your behalf. He has provided the court with some information as to your background, recent employment prior to resignation in 2021 which I have already said I find somewhat unusual against the social situation at the time. And the fact that you appear to be of no fixed address and without family support in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, Mr Wong has not been able to provide the court with any real explanation for your current offending other than to say that you are a casual heroin abuser and were in financial difficulty following your voluntary resignation from paid employment.
The sentencing guidelines for trafficking in heroin can be found in HKSAR v Lau Tak Ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370. For trafficking in between 0 and 50 grammes, the range of sentencing after trial is between 5 to 8 years. For 49.6 grammes therefore the starting point after trial would be approximately 8 years’ imprisonment.
As I have said, you have the matter of jumping bail going back to 2014 and I am told this offence was committed whilst on bail for the blackmail. I will consider that behaviour as a whole in order to have all matters dealt with. It is an aggravating feature to commit offences on bail as you did in this case and I consider an enhancement of 3 months appropriate as I have said.
I do not intend to enhance your sentence further by reason of your record. There was a substantial gap in your offending and I have no details as to the last offending which appears to have been committed just before you were found with these drugs. I simply and sincerely hope that your period on remand has made you realise this is not the way to live your life and that this is the last time you will be before the courts.
You will, of course, receive a full one-third discount for your plea at the earliest opportunity. Now, Mr Huang, you will go to prison for a period of 5 years and 6 months.