COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty before a magistrate for one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The relevant drug is 27 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 26.7 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
The estimated retail value of the drugs is HK$11,394.
This is a simple stop-and-search case. On 13 July 2019, at around 7.41 pm, police officers stopped and searched the defendant at Tung Choi Street, Mongkok. The relevant drugs were found inside a bag carried by the defendant. Under caution, the defendant said, “I just carry the dangerous drug ‘Ice’ to give someone to earn some money.”
The defendant is aged 54. She was educated up to Form 3 level. She was unemployed at the time of the arrest, and before that, she was a cleaner. She was divorced. She has two daughters and one son but has lost contact with them. She was addicted to drugs since 1981.
She has five previous criminal record, mostly related to dangerous drugs. The latest one is trafficking in dangerous drugs for which she was sentenced to 2½ years’ imprisonment. That was in 2002.
Miss Lam, counsel for the defendant, helpfully submitted written submissions. As she has correctly pointed out, the starting point for trafficking between 10 to 70 grammes of ‘Ice’ is 7 to 11 years’ imprisonment. This guideline was laid down under the Court of Appeal case HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun.
For the present quantity of ‘Ice’, the starting point should be in the region of 96.8 months’ imprisonment. In this case, there is no valid mitigating factors apart from the defendant’s early plea of guilty. Now, however, in view of the background of the defendant, in particular her history of drug addiction, I will adopt a starting point of 96 months’ imprisonment.
I note that the defendant has a previous record of trafficking in dangerous drugs but that was happened 18 years ago.
Taking in account the defendant’s guilty plea, the starting point of 96 months’ imprisonment is reduced to 64 months’ imprisonment.