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DCCC634/2012
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 634 OF 2012
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HKSAR |
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v. |
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Yeung Chun-fai |
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| Before: |
Deputy District Judge Longley |
| Date: |
19 October 2012 at 10.02 am |
| Present: |
Mr Francis Haddon-Cave, Counsel on fiat, for HKSAR
Ms Lee Wing-yi, Amanda, instructed by Yuen & Partners, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. Yeung Chun-fai, you have been convicted on your own plea of trafficking in a dangerous drug.
2. The drugs in question were 24.35 grammes of a powder containing 18.39 grammes of ketamine. These were the drugs that were found in two plastic bags in your trouser pocket when the police stopped you late at night on 8 May this year outside a block in Hing Tin Estate in Lam Tin.
3. You told the police that you received these drugs from a man called Ah Wing in Mong Kok and acting on his instructions you had taken a taxi from Mong Kok with the drugs to Lam Tin. You told the police that at the time you were arrested, you were waiting for instructions from Ah Wing as to how you were to find the man to whom you were to deliver the drugs.
4. The estimated street value of the drugs was $2,900.
5. You claimed that the reward you would receive from making this delivery would be $500.
6. As you no doubt know, drug trafficking is a very serious offence. Courts in Hong Kong have repeatedly said that those who traffic in dangerous drugs can expect little mercy. You would have been fully aware that very serious consequences would follow if you were caught with these drugs. As I am sure you have been told by your counsel, the Court of Appeal has laid down a tariff for those who traffic in these sort of drugs.
7. I see no reason to depart from the tariff in your case. Accordingly, I adopt a starting point of 4½ years’ imprisonment.
8. I have listened to all that has been said on your behalf by Ms Lee. You cannot claim in mitigation that you are a man of previous good character. You have a number of previous convictions but none as serious as that which is now before the court and none involving the trafficking of dangerous drugs.
9. I am satisfied that the only real mitigation in your case is the fact that you immediately admitted to the police what you had done and you had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. You are therefore entitled to the usual discount of one-third.
10. I accordingly sentence you to 3 years’ imprisonment.
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P.K.M. Longley |
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Deputy District Judge |
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