R. v. NG HON SING

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

1996, No. 174
(Criminal)

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J U D G M E N T

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Ching, J.A. (delivering the judgment of the Court) :

1. On 15th February, 1996, the applicant was found guilty by a jury of one count of manufacturing a dangerous drug, namely heroin hydrochloride. The drugs which were recovered had a street value of $65,000 which, as the Judge commented, was not unduly large. The Judge also observed, correctly, that the offence of manufacturing dangerous drugs is a very serious one. Conviction on a charge of manufacturing usually attracts a far heavier sentence than does one of trafficking. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 12 years. He now seeks leave to appeal against his sentence out of time.

2. No reasons have been advanced to us why time should be extended. Nor have we anything to show that the sentence was wrong. The applicant has advanced personal compassionate grounds and he has expressed his remorse but this can make no difference. The applicant was caught red-handed and yet pleaded not guilty. His evidence was that he had gone to the premises to purchase drugs for his own consumption but on the other hand his counsel at trial asserted that at one stage he was minded to plead guilty to an alternative charge of trafficking. The most that his counsel could say for him in mitigation at trial was that the circumstances showed that he might not have been the ringleader. He has repeated the same sort of assertion before us today.

3. In the circumstances, no grounds have been shown for an extension of time and the application is dismissed.