HKSAR v. CHAN HO CHAU

HCCC 274/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 274 OF 2013

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

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COURT: Defendant, you appear in this court for sentence, having pleaded guilty to three charges, the first of which is a charge of dangerous driving, contrary to section 37(1) of the Road Traffic Ordinance, Chapter 374, Laws of Hong Kong; the second, trafficking in 0.29 of a kilogramme of ketamine, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 134; and the third, an offence of possession of 20.11 grammes of cocaine, contrary to section 8(1)(a) and (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 134, Laws of Hong Kong.

The Summary of Facts, which you have agreed, establish that at about 10 o'clock pm on the night of 14 September of last year, police officers who were sitting in a police vehicle observed you sitting in the driver’s seat of a private vehicle, registration number RK 2033, which was situated in the car park at Sha Chau Lei Tsuen, Ping Ha Road, in Tin Shui Wai. The officers found you to be acting suspiciously so three of them approached you. One of the officers told you to switch off the engine and alight from your car. You responded by immediately driving your vehicle, at speed, deliberately, towards the police vehicle which was stationary at the exit of the car park, preventing you from leaving.

Your vehicle collided with the offside rear of the police vehicle, causing not only damage to the police vehicle but also personal injury to the driver of the police vehicle, albeit minor. You then drove out of the car park at high speed down the road to Sha Chau Lei Tsuen, where the police, in their vehicle, chased after you for some 50 metres until the road narrowed, forcing them to chase you on foot. Your car was found abandoned with the engine still running. The police searched your vehicle and found the drugs being the subject matter of Charges 2 and 3 inside the vehicle.

You were eventually apprehended by another party of police a little later on, breathing heavily, sweating, and with mud and abrasions on your arm. You lied to the police, telling them that you had just been assaulted by a group of 10-odd people.

You are 24 years of age, addicted to cocaine and have a number of previous convictions, including drug offences, triad-related offences and theft. I have a background report on you which indicates to me that you are completely out of control.

I am told the reasons that you committed the present offences stem from the fact that you became unemployed in March of 2012 and, later on, in May of 2012, your girlfriend with whom you had made arrangements to marry in June, separated from you and also suffered an abortion whilst being pregnant with your child.

Whilst these events in your life are no doubt challenging, they give you no right to behave in this manner. Particularly insofar as the offence of dangerous driving is concerned, where you displayed precisely no concern for the safety of the police officers who were carrying out their duties. To make matters worse, you were disqualified from driving at the time you committed these offences, for which you have already been imprisoned for, I believe, a period of 12 months, by the magistrate in November of this year.

In sentencing you, I take account of the mitigation that has been put before me by your learned counsel, but it is your plea of guilty to these offences that affords you the only real mitigation and I will take account of that in sentencing you.

On Charge 1, I adopt a starting point of 2 years’ imprisonment. I will discount that by one-third to take account of your plea of guilty, coming to 16 months’ imprisonment on Charge 1.

I also disqualify you from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of 18 months. This period of disqualification is to run consecutively to the period of disqualification that you are currently ordered to serve.

With regard to Charge 2, the sentencing guidelines relating to trafficking in ketamine are contained in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2008] HKCA 200. For trafficking in 50 to 300 grammes of narcotic, a starting point of 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment is indicated. In this case, with regard to Charge 2, the court is dealing with 290 grammes of ketamine. Accordingly, I adopt a starting point of 8½ years’ imprisonment. This sentence is similarly discounted by one-third to take account of your plea of guilty, coming to 5 years 8 months’ imprisonment on Charge 2, which I order to run consecutively to the sentence on Charge 1.

Regarding Charge 3, this is a charge of simple possession of 20.11 grammes of cocaine which you had for your own consumption. My starting point with regard to this charge is a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment which, due to the considerable quantity, imposes a latent risk of ending up in the hands of members of the public. I will therefore enhance that starting point by 6 months, coming to 2 years’ imprisonment on Charge 3.

Due to your plea of guilty, I discount this sentence by one-third, arriving at a sentence of 16 months’ imprisonment on Charge 3, which I order to run concurrently to the sentences on Charges 1 and 2 due to the question of totality of sentence, arriving at an overall sentence of imprisonment of 7 years.

All of these sentences I order to run concurrently with the sentence of 2 months’ imprisonment imposed on you in November of this year in the Magistrates Court and which you are currently serving.