HKSAR v. LI JIN

HCCC93/2009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 93 OF 2009

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: Li Jin, stand up.

You have been found guilty by the jury of trafficking in the three drugs referred to in the indictment: 46.13 grammes of crystalline solid containing 45.76 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 888 squares of blotter paper weighing a total of 10.37 grammes, containing 0.0209 grammes of LSD and 37 tablets containing of total of 0.25 grammes of nimetazepam. These were the drugs that the police found in a drawer of your wardrobe in your bedroom when they searched your flat on the evening of 21 November last year.

I do not know from the jury's verdict whether they were satisfied that you alone were trafficking in these drugs, or, whether they were satisfied you were doing so jointly with your husband. Taking the interpretation most favourable to you, I propose to sentence you on the basis that your husband was somebody who trafficked in dangerous drugs and you became party to his activities.

Your husband is a Mainlander, 10 years younger than you, who had married you two months before the offence, after a relatively short courtship of four months. In view of your evidence that he consumed ice every day, I find it hard to imagine that you did not know he was involved with dangerous drugs before you married him. Not only did you tolerate his drug-related activities but it is apparent from the jury's verdict that you became a party to it.

You were a mature woman and would have been well aware of what you were doing. This was not the first time you had been before the courts for a drug offence. It is, however, the first time you have been before the courts for the offence of trafficking. Your previous conviction, in 2006, should have brought home to you the gravity of the conduct upon which you were embarking.

I am satisfied that the appropriate starting point for this offence is 9 years' imprisonment. You have shown no remorse and there are no other circumstances that warrant any discount from that starting point.

I, accordingly, sentence you to 9 years' imprisonment.

Court rises - 3.04 pm

25 August 2009