HKSAR v. TSUI WING

DCCC 597/2017

[2018] HKDC 7

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 597 OF 2017

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REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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1.  The defendant has pleaded guilty to and been convicted of one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug.

2.  According to the facts admitted by him:

(1) He was allowed to stay in one of the rooms in a sub-divided flat on 6/F, 112 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong (“the premises”).

(2) On 20 March 2017, the police attended the premises to execute a search warrant. At around 1:15 pm, when police officers were entering the main door of the premises, a police officer stationed at an observation post at the opposite building at 4^th Floor, 83 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai saw a packet being thrown out of the window of Room 1 of the premises. The packet was seized by the police from the landing point outside 112 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai and was found to contain 75 pellets of suspected drugs.

(3) The defendant was found inside the premises. Under caution, he admitted throwing out the suspected drugs when police officers were entering the premises and that the suspected drugs were his, but claimed that they were for his own consumption.

(4) Later, he stated in a video recorded interview that he had been residing at the premises for about 2 months, paying a rent of $1,000. The packet of suspected drugs thrown out of the window belonged to him and was for his own consumption. When he heard the police breaking into the premises, he grabbed the packet from his own room and went to Room 1 and threw it out of the window and onto the street. He had bought the packet from someone called “Uncle Chan” in Yau Ma Tei for $8,000. He bought in bulk, because it costed him less. He worked as a cleaner and earned around $10,000 a month.

3.  The packet of suspected drugs seized by the police was examined by the Government Chemist and found to contain 75 pellets containing a total of 10.3 gramme of a mixture containing 8.39 gramme of heroin hydrochloride.

4.  The street value of the drugs, as admitted by the defendant, is estimated at around $7,300 odd.

5.  Notwithstanding his earlier claims that the drugs were for his own consumption, he now admits that he unlawfully trafficked in the drugs.

6.  The defendant has about 30 previous convictions, with 8 related to dangerous drugs.  The dangerous drugs related convictions all related to possession and the defendant was not convicted of trafficking before.  His last conviction was of theft and dated June 2012, for which he was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment.

7.  According to his counsel (Ms Cheng), the defendant was born in Hong Kong and is now 44 years old.  He is single and has no family.  He was educated up to Form 2 and works as a cleaning worker, earning about $4,000 to $5,000 per month.  He is receiving $4,000 odd a month of CSSA for the handicaps.

8.  In mitigation, the defence counsel pleads for leniency as the defendant is remorseful and has pleaded guilty to the charge.

9.  The Court of Appeal has laid down sentencing tariffs for trafficking in heroin in R v Lau Tak Ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370.  According to the tariff, trafficking in up to 10 gramme of narcotic warrants a sentence of 2 to 5 years’ imprisonment.

10.  The narcotic content involved in this case is 8.39 grammes and I take 54 months as the starting point.

11.  I allow a full 1/3 discount for the guilty plea.  There is no other mitigating factor in this case that warrants further discount.

12.  The defendant is therefore sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.