Mr Rupert Spicer, instructed by the Legal Aid Department
HCCC 216/2010
HCCC216/2010
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 216 OF 2010
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Before::
The Honourable Mrs Justice V Bokhary
Date::
30 August 2010 at 9.46 am
Present:
Mr Edward Brook, SPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR Mr Rupert Spicer, instructed by the Legal Aid Department, for the Accused
Offence:
Trafficking in dangerous drugs (販運危險藥物)
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Transcript of the Audio Recording of the Sentence in the above Case
COURT: Accused, you stand convicted on your own plea of guilty to one charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
The drugs involved are 1,651.72 grammes of a mixture containing 405.28 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and 475.22 grammes of monoacetylmorphine hydrochloride. For this quantity of drugs, ignoring enhancement and reduction, I would have adopted a starting point of 21 years. There is an international element which calls for enhancement, but I also take into account that imprisonment would be particularly hard for you since you will be among people mainly foreign to you and speaking in a language which you do not speak, and also because it will be difficult for your family and friends to visit you regularly. This hardship cannot wholly offset the enhancement called for, but can limit it to something less than it would be otherwise. All things considered, I adopt a starting point of 21½ years. Reducing that by a third for a guilty plea produces 14 years and 4 months. You will therefore go to prison for 14 years and 4 months.
The drugs involved are 1,651.72 grammes of a mixture containing 405.28 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and 475.22 grammes of monoacetylmorphine hydrochloride.
For this quantity of drugs, ignoring enhancement and reduction, I would have adopted a starting point of 21 years.
There is an international element which calls for enhancement, but I also take into account that imprisonment would be particularly hard for you since you will be among people mainly foreign to you and speaking in a language which you do not speak, and also because it will be difficult for your family and friends to visit you regularly. This hardship cannot wholly offset the enhancement called for, but can limit it to something less than it would be otherwise.
All things considered, I adopt a starting point of 21½ years. Reducing that by a third for a guilty plea produces 14 years and 4 months.
You will therefore go to prison for 14 years and 4 months.