|
DCCC 784/2024
[2025] HKDC 1408
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 784 OF 2024
________________________
________________________
| Before: |
H.H. Judge G. Lam |
| Present: |
Ms. Moonar Tsoi, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR. |
| |
Mr. David Iu instructed by M/s Yick & Chan, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the defendant. |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug（販運危險藥物） |
________________________
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
________________________
The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of "Trafficking in a dangerous drug". The dangerous drug involved is heroin.
Summary of Facts
2. The defendant was granted court bail on 21 September 2023 for a drug-related case (subsequently became DCCC 76/2024).
3. About 10:40 a.m. on 7 March 2024, the defendant was seen sitting on a park bench at Maple Street Playground in Shamshuipo. Upon having eye contact with PC 61160 (who was on duty in uniform), the defendant picked up a transparent resealable plastic bag from the ground and held it in his right hand. PC 61160 stopped him for enquiry.
4. Upon search, 2 plastic bags (E1 and E2) were found in the defendant's right hand and inside his right shoe respectively. E1 was found to contain 10 packets (consisting of plastic wrappings) which contained a total of 2.51 grammes of a mixture containing 1.69 grammes of heroin hydrochloride; and E2, 8 packets (consisting of plastic wrappings) which contained a total of 1.20 grammes of a mixture containing 0.80 gramme of heroin hydrochloride.
5. Under caution, the defendant admitted that the substances found were heroin, and they were for his own consumption.
Mitigation & Sentence
6. The defendant is 64. He has 8 conviction records, which included 5 "trafficking" offences, 3 "simple possession" offences and 1 "Keeping a divan" offence. Defence counsel Mr. Iu informed me that the defendant's wife has recently moved to Hong Kong from the mainland. In mitigation, Mr. Iu submitted that the defendant has been living in poverty for many years. He is unemployed and receives $7,000 social welfare each month. He committed the present offence due to financial pressure.
7. Drug abuse has always been a problem in our society. A clear message must be conveyed to the general public that "drug trafficking" is a serious crime and that drug traffickers would most certainly be punished by long-term imprisonment. Also, being in financial difficulty (however serious) is no mitigating factor for committing a crime.
8. The Court of Appeal has laid down clear sentencing guidelines for trafficking in heroin (see The Queen v Lau Tak Ming & others [1990] 2 HKLR 370). For up to 10 grammes, the sentence ranges from 2 to 5 years' imprisonment[1]. The defendant trafficked in 2.49 grammes of heroin. Applying a strict arithmetical approach, the appropriate starting point is 2 years and 9 months. The defendant is a repeated offender of "trafficking" offences and he committed the present offence whilst on court bail. I will increase the starting point to 39 months. With the timely guilty plea, the sentence is reduced to 26 months. Apart from this, I see no other mitigating factors which warrant any further reduction. Also, Mr. Iu has confirmed that there is no claim for self-consumption as mitigation. I sentence the defendant to 26 months' imprisonment.
9. Moments ago, I have just sentenced the defendant to 24 months' imprisonment also for "drug trafficking" in DCCC 76/2024. He committed the present offence about 6 months after he committed the offence in DCCC 76/2024. Notwithstanding the totality principle, I order 10 months in the present case to run consecutive to the sentence in DCCC 76/2024. In other words, the total prison term for both cases is 34 months.
[1] The present case predates HKSAR v Huang Ruifang [2025] 2 HKLRD 138.
|