CRIMINAL CASE NO. 152 OF 2012
COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 56.09 grammes of a mixture containing 44.73 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and 4.67 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 4.67 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
In the early hours on 9 November 2011, the defendant had arrived in Hong Kong via the Lok Ma Chau Control Point from mainland China and was arrested shortly after. The defendant was escorted to the North District Hospital and subsequently discharged the drugs which are the subject matter of the charge.
The defendant, under caution, admitted that he was bringing the drugs to Hong Kong from Shenzhen hidden in his anus, and he had planned to deliver the drugs to a woman in Wan Chai. He was to get a reward of $1,000.
The total street value of the drugs is around HK$45,000 for the heroin and about $2,800 for the methamphetamine.
The defendant is aged 28 years old, and unfortunately has a record of five previous convictions, twice to do with drugs. He has been sent to the detention centre and training centre, and for the possession of drugs he has been sentenced to imprisonment for 4 months for possession of dangerous drugs. His last offence, in June last year, was for common assault, for which he was given 4 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months.
In mitigation, Mr Kan, on his behalf, informed the court that he comes from a broken home, and through his own efforts at night school, he managed to graduate from the fourth form in high school, and the defendant had started taking drugs a few years ago, starting with ketamine and progressing to methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Mr Kan has also produced a letter from a Father John Witherspoon asking that this court give a shorter period of detention so that he can arrange for the defendant to do community work and thus guarantee that the defendant will no longer be in contact with people who, as he says, “talk about drugs”.
Frankly, this may have been of assistance if the defendant was 10 years younger and had a clear record. Unfortunately, the defendant has been sent to prison because of drug offences, and yet that has not deterred him from committing the present case.
So, as Mr Kan correctly pointed out, the only mitigating factor is the fact of the plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity.
The defendant was caught with two different types of drugs. The larger amount, which is in the amount of 44.73 grammes, is for heroin, and only 4.67 grammes are for methamphetamine hydrochloride, so the total amount of drugs is about 50 grammes, and according to the guidelines for heroin hydrochloride laid down in the case of Lau Tak Ming, that will bring a starting point sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment.
Added to the fact that the amount of drugs for methamphetamine hydrochloride is 4.67 grammes, it is small in quantity though a more serious drug than heroin, so looking at the overall quantity of drugs and the guidelines laid down in Lau Tak Ming for heroin and in Ching Kwok Hung for methamphetamine hydrochloride, I consider that an appropriate starting point for the total amount of drugs in this case is 8½ years’ imprisonment.
Further, this offence is aggravated by the fact that the defendant was importing the drugs from mainland China to Hong Kong, so I add another 6 months to that starting point. So the total starting point is 9 years’ imprisonment.
I give the benefit of the early plea to the defendant by giving him one-third off, and therefore the defendant is sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.
There is also the matter of the suspended sentence for common assault. That is for a completely separate offence, and he was suspended for 18 months in June last year, and so this offence was committed within the period of suspension. From the document submitted to me by Ms Leung, it appears that this was a case where the defendant and another man were beating up the victim in that case. I am told that the defendant had pleaded guilty in that case, so I will, in view of the fact that the offence is more serious than what is commonly assumed to be the case for common assault, I will order that the 4 weeks’ sentence be served consecutive to the present sentence of 6 years.