COURT: This defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The drug was heroin, namely 83.71 grammes of a mixture containing 52.77 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.
The facts to which the defendant pleaded showed that he was stopped and searched by the police after he left a building in Nathan Road and began walking towards Mong Kok. A search of the black shoulder bag he was carrying revealed three plastic bags containing suspected dangerous drugs.
After his arrest and caution, he told the police he was to receive HK$1200 for delivering the dangerous drugs to others, and asked for a chance.
Subsequent analysis by the Government Chemist confirmed the type and quantity of the dangerous drug seized as set out in the particulars of the charge. The estimated retail value of the drugs was HK$71,739.
In a later video interview, the defendant said that he was delivering the dangerous drugs to somebody called “Ah Wai”. He had left the drugs in a staircase in a building from which the police had seen him leave. He was on the way to Fa Yuen Street where he would be given further instructions. His payment was to be deposited into his Jockey Club account.
The defendant admitted and accepted that he was trafficking in dangerous drugs at the relevant time.
The defendant has a criminal record starting in 1989, and continues to 1999 with six gambling offences, and an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
There are no convictions for a significant period between 1999 and 2007, after which, in March 2007 appears the first dangerous drug conviction of simple possession. After that in 2011 was a trafficking conviction which was dealt in the magistracy and which attracted a sentence of 10 months’ imprisonment. In 2013, there was a further possession of dangerous drugs for which he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
The defendant was born on 28 March 1973 in Hong Kong, and was educated to Form 3 level. He worked as a transportation worker but injured his left arm in 2013 and stopped work thereafter. He was unemployed at the time of the arrest. He is married with three sons: 18 years, 16 years, and 12 months; and twin daughters aged 12.
Letters were put before the court from the defendant and from his wife. The defendant seeks leniency, and explains that he lost his job in March 2013 after his work injury, and then he committed the crime in desperation because he was short of money.
His wife confirms that her husband is a caring husband and father, and explains that they were not on public assistance and unable to make ends meet from the money he was earning.
There Lau Tak-ming guidelines apply to this case. For a narcotic quantity of 50 grammes to 200 grammes, the sentencing range is 8 to 12 years.
The only mitigation which is of value in this particular case is the defendant’s plea of guilty, which entitles him to the full one-third discount.
Accordingly, I take a starting point of eight years, discount it by one-third, and sentence the defendant to five years and four months’ imprisonment.