HKSAR v. LEUNG YIU CHUNG

 DCCC252/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 252 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Leung Yiu-chung, you have been convicted on your own plea of trafficking in dangerous drugs.

2.  The offence occurred some time after 10 pm on 13 January this year. That night, the police had set up a roadblock in Mody Road.

3.  You drove into Mody Road from Nathan Road in a Mercedes car. On seeing the police roadblock, you initially tried to back your car again into Nathan Road, but you found that you could not do so because another car had entered Mody Road behind you. Instead, you drove your car into a basement carpark, the entrance to which was about 30 metres before the police roadblock. Being suspicious, two officers went into the carpark to check on you and your vehicle.

4.  The officers found you in the driver’s seat of the vehicle in the carpark. As the officers approached, you were seen to throw the drugs, which are the subject of this charge, onto the front passenger seat beside you.

5.  The drugs were contained in two resealable plastic bags. One contained 100 tablets, which contained 4.72 grammes of ketamine and 0.25 grammes of methamphetamine. The other contained 99 tablets, which contained 4.55 grammes of ketamine and 0.24 grammes of methamphetamine. The total quantity of ketamine was therefore 9.27 grammes, and the total quantity of methamphetamine was 0.49 grammes.

6.  When you were arrested, you claimed the drugs were for your own consumption.

7.  This afternoon, you have belatedly by your plea, admitted that the drugs were in your possession for the purpose of trafficking.

8.  This is the 7th drug offence for which you have been before the courts. Two of those previous convictions involved offences of trafficking in dangerous drugs. On the most recent occasion in 2006, you were sentenced to 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment in the High Court for drug trafficking. You were released on 26 May last year.

9.  The previous sentences passed on you for drug offences appear not to have deterred you from repeating the offence on this occasion.

10.  I am satisfied that the appropriate starting point in your case is 4 years’ imprisonment.

11.  The only real mitigation in your case is your plea of guilty. That plea did not come at the start of the trial, but only after the prosecution had already called two of their witnesses to give evidence.

12.  I do, however, bear in mind that your plea came immediately after the first morning of the trial. It is a trial that had been listed for 3 days. If you had pleaded guilty at the start of the trial, you could have expected a discount of one-third. As it is, I am prepared to discount your sentence by one-quarter to reflect your belated plea.

13.  I accordingly sentence you to 3 years’ imprisonment.