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HCCC 176/2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 176 OF 2015
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge S D’Almada Remedios |
| Date: |
29 February 2016 at 10.04 am |
| Present: |
Mr Martyn Richmond, on fiat, for HKSAR |
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Mr Bruce Tse, instructed by Cheung & Liu,assigned by DLA, for the accused |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of
trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and
(3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
You have admitted that on 29 October 2014, at the ground floor carpark lift lobby at Chelsea Court in Tsuen Wan, you unlawfully trafficked in 536.30 grammes of a solid containing 212.10 grammes of cocaine.
On that day at about 1825 hours, you were intercepted by police officers at the ground floor of the carpark of Chelsea Court. At that time, the officers searched a black bag you were carrying, in there, they found the drugs as stated in the charge in question. The drugs were found in three separate bags containing 121, 10, and 8 resealable bags respectively, making a total of 139 smaller plastic bags.
After you were cautioned you were asked what the crystals were and you replied they were cocaine. In response to further questioning, you said you had not paid for the drugs but you were just distributing it for others. You said you owed others money and thus trafficked in drugs to earn money. You further said under arrest and caution that, “My baby is newly born, it is only because of that I deliver dangerous drugs to earn money”.
You informed the officers that you lived at Chelsea Court on the 53rd Floor. The officers then went to conduct a house search and your wife and infant daughter were present there. After a search, a bundle of black plastic bags and an electronic scale inside a box were found.
You were further interviewed in a video-recorded interview. ou stated that you were unemployed at the time and despatched drugs for someone to make a little extra money. You made a living selling drugs, and you would use the scale to weigh and pack the drugs into the plastic bags.
The estimated street value of the drugs seized from you were $519,675.
Defendant, you are 44 years of age and you are educated up to form two. You have 20 previous convictions: 14 are related to drugs; 7 are for possession of dangerous drugs; 5 are for trafficking in dangerous drugs; 2 are for conspiracy to traffic in dangerous drugs. Your last conviction was in 2008 to which you were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months’ imprisonment for two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one of possession of dangerous drugs. You were last discharged from prison on 21 February 2013.
In mitigation, Mr Bruce Tse, your counsel, has put forward a heartfelt letter written by yourself to me this morning. In brief, your letter expresses your remorse and the fact that you feel that you have made your children ashamed. You are sorry as a result of the harm that you have caused to society. You have asked me to be as lenient as possible so that you can have a reunion with your family as soon as possible.
Mr Tse has put forward the fact that you were frank and cooperative at the very commencement, as soon as you were arrested, and during your police investigation. He asks me not to impose a starting point of more than 12 years’ imprisonment.
In asking Mr Tse to address me on the factor of enhancement, he asks me not to enhance your term of imprisonment, to my understanding, on the basis that you are or will be serving a long period of imprisonment already, but he accepts that it is of course a matter of law that the courts increase the starting point if an offender has previous similar convictions.
Defendant, the drugs to which you were trafficking in were that of cocaine, and the leading case for trafficking in cocaine is that of R v Lau Tak Ming. You had trafficked in the amount of 212.10 grammes of cocaine. In following the guidelines as set down, that amount falls in the bracket of between 200 and 400 grammes of which a sentence to be imposed after trial would be one between 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Defendant, had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 12 years’ imprisonment. You have five similar convictions of which two others are related to trafficking, which makes it a total of seven previous similar convictions.
As stated by the Court of Appeal in HKSAR v Abdallah Anwar Abbas, the court held that it is be an aggravating factor calling for the enhancement of a starting point where a trafficker has previously been convicted of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
In circumstances, in view of your previous convictions of trafficking in dangerous drugs, I do consider an enhancement to be appropriate.
In the circumstances, I enhance the starting point by 1 year’s imprisonment, making the sentencing point to be that of 13 years’ imprisonment. You have pleaded guilty and the appropriate one-third discount will be applied, the resulting sentence defendant which you shall be sentenced to is one of, 8 years’ and 8 months’ imprisonment.
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