HKSAR v. LI LOK KI

HCCC 100/2018

[2018] HKCFI 1364

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 100 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: Miss Li, please stand up.

Miss Li, you pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs on 19 March 2018 before the Eastern Magistrates’ Court and you have confirmed that plea once again today. The count to which you have pleaded guilty involves three different types of dangerous drugs: 0.17 grammes of cocaine, 125.19 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly called “Ice”, and 5.39 grammes of ketamine.

They were found upon you, on 1 May 2017, by a police officer when he stopped and searched you in Portland Street. The drugs were found in a cosmetics purse which was inside your black shoulder bag. The cocaine was in a single plastic bag, the “Ice” was found within 15 separate plastic bags, and the ketamine was found in a further four separate plastic bags.

Upon arrest and caution, you said that you were delivering “pork” for others. There was no suggestion that any part of the drugs which you carried that day were for your own consumption as you were pregnant at the time and no trace of dangerous drugs was found in your system when you were detained. Mr Woon suggests that you were simply acting under instructions from someone you had contacted on the internet and that all you were doing was picking up these drugs and taking them to another person, when you were arrested.

He says that you were not doing the actual selling. I do not know if that is actually the case. You had over $4,000 on you at the time of your arrest and you had been unemployed for a month with no other income, but trying to support yourself and your daughter. Given the type and the breakdown of the dangerous drugs found upon you, and the fact that it was in small packets inside what can only be described as a cosmetics purse, I do not believe that this was simply the case of you being a go-between.

$4,438.20 was found upon you, as well as three mobile phones. Why would a single mother, who was unemployed, need three mobile phones for a single pick-up and delivery? The street value of the drugs that were found in your possession was $42,548.

In any event, by reason of your plea today, you accept you were in fact trafficking in those drugs.

You are now 30 years of age and you have a criminal record which dates back to 2011, when you were just 23 years of age, for an unrelated matter which is now spent. And then in 2014, you were dealt with for possession of dangerous drugs for which you received DATC. That offending took place when you already had a child to support. This offending took place when you were pregnant with your second child.

You say you committed this offence because you were trying to make ends meet as you had to support yourself and your daughter. You say that you had to resign from your job because you were pregnant and could no longer physically carry it out. But as you had a number of previous jobs, and significant responsibilities, I find it surprising that you had not planned to move to a more suitable job at the first opportunity.

You say you carried out this offence for a reward of $2,000. You clearly knew what you were doing, Miss Li. That was a significant risk for very little reward, given your previous monthly income. A risk which means you will go to prison for some time and your children will be without their mother.

The charge you face involves three different types of drugs: cocaine, “Ice” and ketamine. Cocaine falls to be considered under the guidelines in HKSAR v Lau Tak Ming [1990] HKLR 370 and for up to 10 grammes, the starting point after trial would be up to 5 years; for 0.17 grammes, the starting point would be just 6 months. “Ice” falls to be dealt with under the guidelines in HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun [2014] 3 HKLRD 691. The starting point after trial for between 70 and 300 grammes of “Ice” is between 11 and 15 years. For 125.19 grammes of “Ice”, the starting point would be 12 years. Ketamine falls to be dealt with under the guidelines in HKSAR v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1, and for between 1 and 10 grammes, the starting point after trial should be between 2 to 4 years. 5.39 grammes would therefore attract a starting point for sentence after trial of 3 years.

Those individual sentences would make a total of 15 years and 6 months, if they were considered together. That far exceeds the criminality of your offending. In this case, the amount of cocaine and ketamine was small. They represent just 0.1 per cent and 4.1 per cent of the total drugs recovered. If I took the weight of the total amount of the drugs recovered, which is 130.75 grammes, and sentenced you for it all being “Ice”, which is the most serious drug and the one of the greatest weight, the starting point after trial would still be 12 years. I therefore think it would be just, in all the circumstances of the case, to have a starting point after trial of 12 years.

But it was not all “Ice”. The cocaine was a very small amount, but the ketamine was over 5 grammes and when mixed with the “Ice” can be more potent and therefore potentially more lethal than the drugs individually. There is an element of latent risk that the fact that you carry more than one drug means that your potential market for dangerous drugs is wider and there is the risk, which I have mentioned, that purchasers will buy not just one type of drug, but mix it with another. Because of that aggravating factor, I intend to enhance your sentence by 6 months. That makes a total of 12 years and 6 months. You will of course receive a full one-third discount for your plea entered at an early stage and you will go to prison for 8 years and 4 months.