The dangerous drugs involved are 656.68 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 641.3 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride and 652 grammes of cannabis in herbal form.
On 23 April 2018, police officers ambushed a flat situated at No 232 Tong Mi Road, Mongkok. When entered into the flat, the police officers found the defendant inside. Upon search of the premises, the relevant dangerous drugs were found. Under caution, the defendant admitted that he possessed the relevant drugs for sale under caution.
The defendant is 57 years old. He was born in mainland China, educated up to primary level. He is divorced. And before the arrest, he was a casual worker. He has two previous convictions of trafficking in dangerous drugs. He was convicted of the said offences in 2005. For the offences he was sentenced in total for 7 years’ imprisonment. He was released from custody in the year 2008.
Trafficking in dangerous drugs is a serious offence. The Court of Appeal has laid down tariff for sentence in respect of different kinds of dangerous drugs. For trafficking in methamphetamine hydrochloride, the court should consider the tariff laid down by the Court of Appeal in Tam Yi Chun. For trafficking in cannabis, the court should follow the tariff laid down by the cases in the Attorney General v Chan Chi Man and the Attorney General v Tuen Shui Ming.
Following the tariffs as mentioned, I agree with Mr Yuen, counsel for the defendant, that the combined approach should be adopted and the appropriate starting point for sentencing the defendant should be imprisonment term of 20 years. The previous conviction of trafficking in dangerous drugs was in 2005, which was over 14 years ago. I am not prepared to apply any enhancement because of that. The only mitigating factor in this case is the defendant’s guilty plea, and for that I will accord with the defendant a full discount of one-third. The starting point of 20 years is therefore reduced to 13 years and 4 months.