HKSAR v. TSANG NGAU

DCCC376/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 376 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Defendant you pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) & (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.

2.  You admitted that on the 7 March 2011, outside Po Leung Kuk C W Chu College, No.1 Tin Sam Street, Tai Wan, Shatin, New Territories, you unlawfully trafficked in 8.05 grammes of a mixture containing 5.51 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

3.  On the 7 March 2011 at about 8.50 pm, police officers who were conducting an anti-dangerous drug operation in the Shatin area, saw you at the location in the charge sheet, walking quickly towards the direction of Sun Chui Estate.  

4.  At that time, you were also looking around, officers intercepted you outside Po Leung Kuk College and upon search one plastic bag containing 43 packets of dangerous drug was found in the left front pocket of your jeans.

5.  You have admitted that the drugs were heroin. You said that you purchased the drugs early on that day at about 7.30 pm in To Kwa Wan from an unknown male and paid $5,000 for the drugs.  The estimated street value of the drugs according to the police is $6,295.

6.  You have admitted that you possessed these drugs for purposes of trafficking.  Your solicitor, Mr Ng Man-kin has diligently mitigated on your behalf.  I have taken into account all that he has to say.

7.  You are 56 years of age and have 26 previous convictions, of which 11 are drugs related, two of them related to trafficking, the latest of those was in 1984.  It is clear from your record and your solicitor, that you are drug-dependant.

8.  At the time of the commission of this offence, you were unemployed and receiving Comprehension Social Security Assistance, because of your financial difficulty due to your unemployment, you had hoped to earn money from selling drugs.  For that reason you committed of this offence. 

9.  Mr Ng has rightly referred me to the guideline case of Lau Tak Ming, the drugs falls in the first bracket tariff of Lau Tak Ming of up to 10 grammes and the sentence of 2 to 5 years imprisonment after trial.  

10.  Defendant you trafficked in 5.54 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.  Has I convicted you after trial I would have taken a starting point of 42 months’ imprisonment.  Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, which is obviously the strongest mitigation on your behalf, I reduce that term by one-third to 28 months imprisonment, which is a total of 2 years and 4 months’ imprisonment to which you are so sentenced.