On 17 January 2019, at around 9 o’clock in the morning, the defendant was spotted by anti-narcotics police at Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po. Now, to be exact, the defendant was spotted by the police at 11.25 pm. The defendant was spotted coming out from a “Kam Tin Store” which is located at 4th Floor of Cheong Fat Factory Building. The police conducted a body search on the defendant and the dangerous drugs involved in relation to the 1st charge were found on him.
The police then brought the defendant back to the “Kam Tin Store” and conducted a search on a locker of which the defendant had in his possession of the key to the padlock. The dangerous drugs involved in relation to the 2nd charge were found inside the locker. It was later found out that the defendant had rented the relevant locker.
The defendant was then brought back to his residential address which was in Tsing Yi Estate, Yee Kui House. Inside his residence, the dangerous drugs involved in relation to the 3rd charge were found.
Now, the total estimated street value of the dangerous drugs seized by the police in relation to the three charges amounts to over HK$1.6 million.
The defendant is now 55 years old. He is married. His wife is 48 years old and is living in the mainland. The defendant received education up to Primary 4 level in mainland China. Before the arrest, he was living alone. He was unemployed. He has two previous criminal conviction unrelated to dangerous drugs.
According to Mr Chu, counsel for the defendant, the defendant committed the present offence because he wanted to earn quick money. Mr Chu submitted that the defendant is now very remorseful and defendant took the earliest opportunity to plead guilty which shows his genuine remorse.
Now, trafficking in dangerous drugs is a very serious offence. A person committed this offence will inevitably face with a long term of imprisonment. The Court of Appeal has laid down sentencing tariff in respect of different kinds of dangerous drugs. For trafficking in methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as ‘Ice’, this court should follow the tariff laid down by the Court of Appeal in HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun. Under the said tariff, for trafficking in a quantity of 1,200 grammes to 4,000 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, the appropriate starting point should be 23 to 26 years of imprisonment.
The total quantity of ‘Ice’ involved in this case is over 3,000 grammes. The appropriate starting point should be, as submitted by Mr Chu, around 25 years’ imprisonment. Adopting a global approach in sentencing the defendant in this case, the starting point should be 25 years’ imprisonment.
As submitted by Mr Chu, the cannabis involved in relation to the 2nd charge is negligible, and therefore I will not consider adding any terms of imprisonment in relation to the cannabis found in relation to the 2nd charge.
Now, for the 1st charge, I will adopt a starting point of 12 years’ imprisonment. Taking into account the defendant’s guilty plea, the sentence will be reduced to 8 years’ imprisonment. For the 2nd charge, I will adopt a starting point of 24 years’ imprisonment. Taking into account the defendant’s guilty plea, the sentence will be reduced to 16 years’ imprisonment. For the 3rd charge, I will adopt a starting point of 21 years’ imprisonment. Taking into account the defendant’s guilty plea, the sentence is reduced to 14 years’ imprisonment.
I will adopt a rather lenient approach in sentencing the defendant. For the three charges, I will order that the sentence be served concurrently. Therefore, the overall sentence would be 16 years’ imprisonment, which is slightly less than a starting point of 25 years’ imprisonment after considering the guilty plea.