HKSAR v. LAM SIU WAI

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

1998, No.339
(Criminal)

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J U D G M E N T

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Stuart-Moore, J.A. (giving the judgment of the Court):

1. On 10th June 1998, this Applicant pleaded guilty, before Deputy Judge Wesley Wong sitting in the High Court, to two charges of trafficking in methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as ice. The crystalline solid in the first count had a narcotic content of approximately 458 grammes and, in the second count, about 2.79 kilogrammes.

2. The Applicant now seeks leave to appeal against the totality of the concurrent sentences imposed on these counts of 10 years and 16 years 8 months' imprisonment respectively on the ground that the overall sentence is too long.

3. The Applicant has today brought a number of personal circumstances to the court's attention and there is no doubt that what he says about his parents in recent times has led to great sadness in his family. This court is bound to feel sympathy for the Applicant's family, but offences of this kind are of such gravity that factors which relate to personal circumstances can very rarely affect the sentences which are imposed.

4. The judge took a 15 year starting point on count 1 and a 25 year starting point on count 2, and reduced both by one-third having found that there were no factors which could give rise to any further discount. He found that there were no reasons for departing from the well-known guidelines in The Attorney General v Ching Kwok-hung, 2 HKLR (1991) 125.

5. This was a case in the familiar mould of so many others of this kind, where a young man had been caught as the result of a surveillance operation acting as a paid courier for large quantities of drugs with larger quantities hidden at his home.

6. The judge, in the opinion of this court, was entirely right to have passed this sentence.

7. Accordingly, this application must be dismissed.