HKSAR v. KO CHIM MONG

HCCC 10/2019

[2019] HKCFI 1952

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 10 OF 2019

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Defendant you pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs before a magistrate, and you have been committed here to the Court of First Instance for sentence.

You admitted that on 12 April 2018, outside the ground floor of No 448 Shanghai Street, Mongkok, you unlawfully trafficked in 309 grammes of a solid containing 263 grammes of cocaine.

Shortly after midnight on 12 April 2018, police officers conducting an anti-narcotic operation in the Shanghai Street area saw a vehicle parked between the first and second lanes outside No 448 Shanghai Street. At that time, the emergency lights of the vehicle were on. The police officers then approached the vehicle and saw you sitting in the driver’s seat. When the officers tried to intercept you, you opened the driver’s seat door, attempting to flee. However, you were prevented from doing do.

Upon search of the vehicle, which was later confirmed to be registered under your name, a red Prada bag and a plastic bag were found between the driver’s seat and the front passenger’s seat. In the red Prada bag, a black wallet containing your ID card was found, as well as cash of $8,050 and four mobile phones. Inside the black plastic bag, the drugs as quantified in the charge were found in 15 resealable transparent plastic bags. There were two particular sizes of bags, 11 larger transparent plastic bags with various numbers written on the bags in the range of -- which was 25.28 to 25.31. On the four smaller plastic bags, various numbers in the range of 12.72 to 12.74 were also written on those bags. You were arrested, and under caution, you exercised your right of silence.

In a video-recorded interview, you exercised your right of silence, however, claimed the money found on you was from a legitimate source.

The estimated street value of the cocaine found was $290,460 in powder form or $358,440 in cracked cocaine form.

Defendant, you are 38 years of age and have completed Secondary 2 level education. Your last discharge from custody was on 6 February 2016. You are single. You have 12 previous convictions, of which four are similar, that is for trafficking in dangerous drugs, and eight, including those trafficking-in-dangerous-drug convictions, are related to drugs. Your first occasion at which you had three convictions for trafficking in dangerous drugs was in 2001. You were sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment. In the fourth conviction which was in 2010 for trafficking in dangerous drugs you were sentenced to 44 months’ imprisonment.

Mr Caesar Lo, your counsel, has mitigated on your behalf. He says that the reason for you committing the present offence is because of your indebtedness of over $100,000.

Six months prior to this offence, you became unemployed, and at the same time, your father suffered from back pain of which you had to borrow money from friends and relatives to support your father’s medical expenses as well as daily living. On top of that, Mr Lo says, as can be seen from your previous convictions, you had the habit of taking drugs, and therefore also needed extra money to pay for drugs. So it is in those circumstances you committed this offence. He has correctly stated that the true and real mitigation is your timely plea of guilty.

Defendant, you pleaded guilty at the very first opportunity before a magistrate, and that reflects to me your remorse. The amount of drugs you were trafficking in was 263 grammes of cocaine. The tariff case for trafficking in cocaine is that of R v Lau Tak Ming. For amounts between 200 and 400 grammes, a term of between 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment is the appropriate starting point if you had been convicted after trial. Given the amount that you were trafficking in, had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 12 years and 9 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your early plea of guilty, that term shall be reduced by one-third and you shall be sentenced to 8 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. I have not enhanced the starting point despite your previous criminal records as your last dangerous-drug offence was committed, now, some nine years ago.