R. v. WAN KWONG LAI

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

1996, No. 58
(Criminal)

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J U D G M E N T

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Mortimer, J.A. (giving the judgment of the Court) :

1. On 15 January 1996 the applicant pleaded guilty to an offence of conspiracy to traffick in dangerous drugs and was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months. A suspended sentence of 3 months was activated to run consecutively with that sentence.

The facts

2. The conspiracy ran from April 1995 to July 1995. A police officer, acting as an undercover agent, purchased drugs from the applicant. That was on 10 July 1995. On 14 September 1995, the applicant was arrested and interviewed and admitted the offence. He was in a group of three who had commenced trafficking from April 1995 until July 1995 when, he said, he left the group.

3. It was a serious offence because the trafficking took place close to the methadone centre and as the judge said in sentencing that this was "preying on addicts who were trying to avoid the temptation".

The sentence

4. The judge took as her starting point 5 years and took into account in mitigation the plea of guilty. This was a sentence which was manifestly deserved in the circumstances. It was certainly not wrong in principle nor was it well excessive. Although it is clear that the sentence is having a very serious effect upon the applicant's family, this is the unfortunate result of having committed this offence. There is no merit in this application and it is refused.