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HCCC115/2009
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 115 OF 2009
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Before: Deputy High Court Judge Geiser in Court
Date: 24 August 2009 at 11.32 am
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Present:
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Ms Grace Chan, SPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Lam Siu-wah, Joseph, instructed by M C A Lai & Co, for the Accused
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Offence: Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物)
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: In this case, the defendant has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134, Laws of Hong Kong.
He was intercepted at about quarter past 9 in the morning of 7 November 2008 by police who were patrolling at the junction of Yu Chau Street and Pei Ho Street, Sham Shui Po, who conducted a search on him, and found inside his leather bag that he was carrying a number of small plastic bags containing an assortment of drugs, namely “Ice”, heroin, cocaine, ketamine and Ecstasy.
Mr Lam, for the defendant, in his written submission has most helpfully provided me with an itemised breakdown of the drugs involved, and correctly classified them into three separate groups and identified the percentage of each group vis-à-vis the total quantity of narcotic that the defendant had in his possession.
The cocaine and heroin amounted to 12.57 grammes, the MDMA category amounted to total of 26.74 grammes, and the “Ice”, 6.24 grammes; the total quantity of narcotic coming to some 45.55 grammes.
The defendant is 25 years of age and has several previous convictions which include two for possession of dangerous drugs, but none for actual trafficking.
It is agreed by the prosecution that some 2.4 grammes of the “Ice” that the defendant had in his possession was for his own consumption. I shall take that into account in sentencing the defendant, as well as his plea of guilty, which is, of course, an expression of his remorse, to which he is entitled to be given full credit.
I have reviewed all the cases which both counsel have put before me for the purposes of assisting me in arriving at the proper starting point in this case. I am satisfied that the proper approach is for this court to adopt the combined approach and adopt a starting point as if all of the drugs had fallen into the heroin/cocaine category, which form 27.6 per cent of all of the drugs.
It is right, however, that there are significant quantities of “Ice” and MDMA categories such that I believe it to be proper that there be an upward adjustment of the starting point to reflect this aggravating feature. With regard to the “Ice”, however, this will be tailored to take account of the quantity of “Ice” that the defendant had for his own consumption.
I adopt a starting point of 7½ years’ imprisonment. I enhance this by 6 months’ imprisonment to take account of the aggravating feature that I have identified, coming to 8 years’ imprisonment. I will discount this by one-third to reflect the defendant’s plea of guilty to the charge, arriving at a sentence of 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
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