HKSAR v. CHEUNG YUK SIM, TENNY

HCCC 50/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 50 OF 2015

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: The defendant, Miss Cheung, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, namely 1,410 grammes of ‘Ice’ and 150 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

On 7 June 2014, the defendant was intercepted at the Arrival Hall of the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point after she entered Hong Kong. A search of her belongings discovered she had with her the subject dangerous drugs.

At the time of the offence, the defendant was 30 years old, now she is 32. She was born in Hong Kong and received education to level form three. In 2001, she was convicted of the offence of theft and she was given a probation order for the offence. She has otherwise no criminal record. Before the arrest, the defendant was a sales person.

The defendant has written a letter to the court saying that she is now very remorseful and she now understood more about the harm of drugs. She herself has been a victim to drugs and she had a miscarriage because of it. She hopes she can learn something in the coming future and turn a new leaf. She asks for the court’s leniency.

Mr Boyton, counsel for the defendant, told the court that the defendant has tried to provide information to the police, but the police did not find the information given by her useful. Mr Boyton rightly acknowledged that the only mitigating factor of the defendant is her guilty plea.

As the present offence was committed two days before the Court of Appeal’s decision in HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun [2014] 3 HKLRD 125, for trafficking of ‘Ice’ the sentencing guideline of Ching Kwok Hung [1991] 2 HKLR 125 is applicable under which the starting point for trafficking in a quantity of more than 600 grammes of ‘Ice’ shall be over 18 years.

Mr Boyton has provided a number of legal authorities to me on the appropriate sentence for trafficking in large quantities of ‘Ice’ before Tam Yi Chun. The quantities involved ranged from just above 600 grammes to over 1,400 grammes. The starting points adopted in those cases are 20 or 21 years.

In HKSAR v Stojanovic Milka CACC 110/2010, the Court of Appeal adopted a starting point of 20 years for trafficking in 1,484 grammes of ‘Ice’ with an enhancement of 2 years for the international element.

In the present case, more than a single kind of drug are involved and there is also an international element.

In my view, the proper starting point for the present case should be 21 years’ imprisonment and it shall be enhanced by 2 years for the international element. Giving the full one‑third discount for the defendant’s guilty plea, the sentence of the defendant is reduced from 23 years to 15 years and 4 months.