CRIMINAL CASE NO. 103 OF 2010
COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. You were caught carrying both heroin and “Ice” across the border into Hong Kong from the mainland.
You had just over 25 grammes of “Ice” and over 69 grammes of heroin.
You will know that sentencing for drug trafficking depends upon guidelines, and different guidelines apply to different drugs, the guideline being based on the nature of the drug and the quantity of it.
In all, you had 95 grammes, put together, of “Ice” and heroin. If it had all been heroin, you would have fallen in the category that starts at 50 grammes and runs out at 200, attracting a starting point after trial of 8 to 12 years. If it all had been “Ice”, the starting point would have been in the category that runs from 10 to 14 years, based on 70 to 300 grammes. So roughly, if it had all been heroin, the starting point would have been, mathematically, without any aggravations, about 9 years; if it all had been “Ice”, about 10 years. I remember that there was more heroin than “Ice”.
You pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court, having made immediate admissions to the police. You have a one‑third discount for that, as you know.
I have to factor into taking the starting point the fact that there is the aggravation of crossing the border with the drugs, and the fact that there were two drugs, rather than one.
In all of those circumstances, I judge that the right starting point is one of 9½ years. Applying the third discount gives a sentence of 6 years and 4 months, and that is the sentence I pass upon you.
You are currently serving a sentence of 16 months for drug trafficking. You were on bail for that when you committed this offence, so the question arises should this sentence I pass today start today, or should it start at the conclusion, and be consecutive to, the current sentence you are serving.
Your earliest release date is 12 September. We give the same one-third discount to men who all along come quietly and for those who string it out and plead guilty at the door of the court when there is a jury waiting, and it is for reasons of expediency that that occurs. It seems to me that sometimes the man who comes quietly from the beginning might earn himself a little more credit in situations such as yours. You could not have complained at all if I had made this consecutive, but in the circumstances, as a matter of mercy and reflecting that co‑operation right from the beginning, I shall say that the sentence of 6 years and 4 months starts today, and say for the avoidance of any doubt, therefore, it is concurrent to the existing sentence you are serving.