CRIMINAL CASE NO. 262 OF 2009
COURT: At the end of a trial involving trafficking in drugs judges are frequently asked to show mercy to the accused who has been convicted. What that request ignores is that people like you who smuggle drugs into Hong Kong are showing no mercy to the people who live here.
You come from Malaysia. You have been in and out of Hong Kong a number of times. You are, therefore, well aware that if you had committed this offence in your own country, you would be facing the death penalty. That is so in a lot of the countries in this region. We do not have that in Hong Kong but what we do have, and what is made necessary by the conduct of people like you, is very substantial gaol sentences for people who import drugs and who traffic in drugs.
There are two good reasons for that: (1) if we did not have hard sentences people would soon use Hong Kong as a drugs trafficking centre, a transport hub, as it was suggested earlier today; (2) we have these sentences because it is necessary to protect the members of this community.
The Court of Appeal has laid down very clear guidelines as to the range of sentences which are to be imposed in these types of offences. I have already explained to you on a previous occasion about those guidelines. The quantity of drugs which you imported falls into a band of sentences. Your quantity, a couple of grammes over 500 grammes, is almost exactly halfway up that band.
The appropriate sentence, leaving aside for one moment the international element, of trafficking in that quantity of drugs is 17½ years imprisonment. There is an international element here and the courts have consistently and, in my respectful opinion, correctly emphasised that it is appropriate and proper to recognise that international element by enhancing the sentence. There is not a specific amount by which a sentence is to be enhanced. That is to a large extent, in the discretion of the judge.
It seems to me that in the present circumstances, given the quantity of drugs and the plain organisation there was involved in the efforts by you and whoever else to import these drugs, the appropriate sentence after trial is one of 19 years imprisonment.
No judge enjoys sending a young person to gaol and I am conscious of the fact that a sentence of that length is equal to your age, but that is appropriate here and it has got to send a message to people that this type of offence will be dealt with very firmly in Hong Kong.
I know you have a clear record in Hong Kong. You are not a Hong Kong resident. I know you were apparently enthusiastic to co-operate with the authorities when you were arrested. I have my views as to why that should be but I do not think it entitles you to any credit. There is nothing in what I have been told that justifies reducing the sentence.
You will go to gaol for 19 years.