HKSAR v. CHEUNG KING HANG

DCCC54/2009

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 54 OF 2009

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Reasons for Sentence

1.  The defendant has been convicted on his plea of one charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs, namely on 4 December last year he trafficked in 23.87 grammes of a solid containing 16.44 grammes of cocaine in the Yuen Long area.

2.  The defendant on the afternoon in question was kept under observation by two police officers who were conducting anti-dangerous drug duties.  When he emerged from a building they intercepted him, searched him and found the drugs in question inside a resealable plastic bag in his pockets.  Under caution, he admitted that he intended to sell the cocaine.

3.  Subsequently, in a video-recorded interview, the defendant stated that the drugs were for his own consumption.  However, the defendant has today stated through his counsel that he admits that he in fact did intend to sell these drugs that were found on him when he was arrested.

4.  The defendant is 21 years of age.  He has a record, including three previous convictions for simple possession of dangerous drugs, in 2003, December 2007 and March 2008.  He was sentenced to detention in a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre for both of the last two previous convictions, and I note that he is presently the subject of a Recall Order to the DATC and is receiving drug addiction treatment again.

5.  I have noted the contents of the long letter the defendant has written to the court.  It seems to be clear from that letter that the defendant has reflected long and hard on what he has done and on his history of offences and that he is determined to turn over a new leaf.  I accept that he is genuinely remorseful for what he did. 

6.  I note that his girlfriend is 4 months’ pregnant and the defendant will not be at liberty when she gives birth later this year.

7.  The courts take a very serious view of the offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs.  The Court of Appeal has suggested guidelines for sentencing; in relation to cocaine, it is well-established that the guidelines for trafficking in heroin set out in R v Lau Tak-ming & Ors [1990] 2 HKLR 370 are also applied to trafficking in cocaine. 

8.  The guidelines are based essentially on the quantity of the dangerous drug which is trafficked in, and suggest that for a quantity of narcotic between 10 and 50 grammes a sentence of 5 to 8 years’ imprisonment after trial would in the ordinary way be appropriate.

9.  The guidelines are not intended to be a straightjacket on a sentencing judge, they can be departed from, but only for a very good reason, and I can see no reason on the facts of the present case to depart from them. 

10.  For the quantity of narcotic that the defendant was trafficking in, namely 16.44 grammes of cocaine, I have adopted a starting point of 65 months’ imprisonment, namely 5 years and 5 months.  For his plea of guilty, his co-operation with the authorities - and I have particularly in mind that he has admitted today that he did intend to sell the drugs at the time in question - he is entitled to the full one-third discount, which discounts the starting point to 43 months’ imprisonment (rounded down).

11.  In all the circumstances of this case I consider it appropriate to discount that by a further 2 months’ imprisonment, and I impose a sentence of 41 months’ imprisonment on the defendant.