HKSAR v. SOU YU-WAN

 DCCC788/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 788 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Sou Yu-wan, you have been convicted on your own pleas of two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drug. On the night of 12 May this year, police officers were keeping watch outside the premises in which you rented a room in Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po. At around 10 pm, you came out of the premises and were searched by the police. In one of the pockets of the trousers you were wearing, the police found the drugs that are the subject of Charge 1, namely, 9.07 grammes of a powder containing 5.8 grammes of ketamine. You told the police you were delivering drugs for somebody in order to earn some money.

2.  The police went on to search your room and they found the drugs that are the subject of Charge 2 in a plastic box. Four different drugs were involved. There were six transparent plastic bags which contained 77.69 grammes of a powder containing 49.31 grammes of ketamine. There was one transparent plastic bag which contained 13.51 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 8.65 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. There were seven small transparent plastic bags containing 1.74 grammes of a solid containing 1.22 grammes of cocaine. There were also 14 foil packets containing 133 tablets containing 0.89 grammes of nimetazepam and 0.01 grammes of nitrazepam. As well as the drugs, there were various other items of drug‑related paraphernalia, including an electronic scale and a large quantity of empty resealable plastic bags.

3.  Your explanation to the police was that a man you had met in a park in Sham Shui Po called Ah Wai had given you $4,000 in order to rent the room and promised you $300 per day if you would store drugs for him and deliver those drugs to customers on his behalf. You said that he had promised to pay you every two weeks, but as two weeks had not yet elapsed, you had not yet been paid anything by him.

4.  As you well know, drug trafficking is an evil business. You have already in the past in 1996 been sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for the same offence, trafficking in dangerous drugs. You would have known that very serious consequences would follow if you were caught again. Once again, you had decided to take that risk.

5.  In my view, the appropriate starting point on Charge 1 is a sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment. On Charge 2, in my view, the appropriate starting point is 7 and a half years’ imprisonment.

6.  I have listened to all that Mr Tse has said on your behalf. The only real mitigation in your case is your pleas of guilty, and for that, you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third.

7.  You have to realise that if you do not cease to traffic in dangerous drugs, you are likely to spend the majority of the rest of your life in prison. That is a decision for you and you alone to make. I hope you will realise when you are released the pointlessness of wasting your life in this way. On Charge 1, I sentence you to 2 years’ imprisonment. On Charge 2, I sentence you to 5 years’ imprisonment. Both sentences are to run concurrently. The total sentence therefore of this court is 5 years’ imprisonment.