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HCCC43/2009
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 43 OF 2009
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HKSAR
v
LAM MEI CHING BET
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Before: DHCJ Longley
Date: 20 April 2009 at 11.37 am
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Present:
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Ms Mickey Fung, SPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Andrew Raffell, instructed by C K Mok & Co, for the Accused
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Offence: Trafficking in dangerous drugs (販運危險藥物)
Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above case
COURT: Lam Mei-ching, you have pleaded guilty to trafficking in 139.35 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 135.19 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Those drugs were found in 24 ziplock bags placed inside your underpants when you were searched by Customs after returning from the mainland through Lo Wu on 24 October last year. You had set off for the mainland earlier that day.
The estimated street value of the drugs was just over $78,000.
I can see from your record that you have been involved with drugs as a user for many years, but never before have you been convicted of the offence of trafficking. I am prepared to accept that you were persuaded to carry the drugs on this occasion in order to satisfy all the debts you owed to the person who induced you to carry out this exercise.
You can, however, have been in no doubt that you were carrying a substantial quantity of drugs, and that very serious consequences would follow if you were caught. This is not a case in which you can have been under any illusion that you were carrying less drugs than you actually were.
In those circumstances, bearing in mind the quantity of drugs, the appropriate starting point, in my view, is 11 years’ imprisonment.
I have listened carefully to all that has been said on your behalf by Mr Raffell, as well as taking into account your plea of guilty.
Taking those matters into account, I am prepared to reduce your sentence to one of 6 years’ imprisonment, and that is the sentence I pass.
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