CRIMINAL CASE NO. 320 OF 2011
COURT: Lam San-yau, you have been found guilty after trial of one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 142.27 grammes of “Ice”; 14 milligrams of nimetazepam; 0.23 gramme of ketamine; and 0.03 grammes of trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine by pure narcotic content.
The facts of the case were simple. You got off a cross‑border bus and were intercepted by the police. After two searches and an X‑ray, you were finally found to have the abovementioned drugs hidden inside your body.
You are aged 47. Born in Hong Kong, you were educated up to secondary 1 level. Since leaving school you have had a number of blue-collar jobs until becoming unemployed in 2005, it is said.
You have a bad criminal record going right back to the 1980s. Among your many previous convictions, six were for trafficking in a dangerous drug. The one in 1997 - that is, your second-last one - was particularly serious, landing you with a term of 11½ years’ imprisonment. Even then you did not desist, and in January 2008 were sent to prison for your last trafficking conviction.
And now there is this present case in which you have advanced the most hideous, though stupidest, defence that I have ever come across in my entire time as counsel and judge, which only goes to show the completeness in your lack of remorse.
In mitigation, counsel has fairly pointed out that there is very little that he can say on your behalf.
Given the quantity of drugs involved, the proper starting point in this case is 11½ years. Moreover, to deal with your recalcitrance in the drug trafficking business, I feel I have no alternative but to bring it up to 12 years.
This is in keeping with well-established sentencing principles, and 12 years is the sentence I pass on you.