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HCCC25/2018
[2018] HKCFI 1125
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 25 OF 2018
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| Date: |
3 May 2018 at 9.43 am |
| Present: |
Miss Lily Yip, PP of the Department of Justice, for
HKSAR |
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Mr Keith Fung Chun-wah, instructed by C K Charles
Ho & Co, assigned by DLA, for the accused |
| Offence: |
(1) Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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(2) Possession of a dangerous drug (管有危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT:
The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one charge of possession of a dangerous drug.
He was intercepted by the police when he was alighting from a private vehicle, and from his jeans pocket, underneath the driver’s seat, inside the accessory box in the front passenger seat, a total of five plastic bags of dangerous drugs were found. Apart from the one bag seized from the accessory box, which was later confirmed to be 0.85 grammes of herbal cannabis, the rest of the drugs were a total of 95.8 grammes of a solid containing 88.8 grammes of cocaine.
Upon arrest and caution, the defendant admitted that the cannabis was for his own consumption, whilst the cocaine was for delivering to others for a reward of $500 per delivery.
The market value of the cocaine seized was in the region of HK$76,000. The defendant is now aged 48. He has eight previous convictions involving a total of 12 charges. In 2001, he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for a trafficking charge. His last conviction was in 2012 July, for gambling in a gambling establishment. He was fined $500.
By way of mitigation, I was told that his last drug-related offence was dated back to 2001. Counsel asked me to adopt a lower starting point within the tariff, and to allow him a full discount on his timely guilty plea.
In sentencing the defendant, I have considered his guilty plea at the committal, mitigation forwarded by counsel on his behalf, and the existing tariff for trafficking in cocaine, and according to Lau Tak Ming, trafficking in cocaine between 50 to 200 grammes, a starting point of 8 to 12 years is to be adopted.
The present case involves 88.8 grammes of cocaine. I adopt a starting point of 9 years. I shall give him the full one-third discount for his plea and for the 1st charge, he is sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.
For the insignificant amount of possession of herbal cannabis, I impose 2 months’ imprisonment, and order that to run concurrently with a 6 years’ imprisonment for the trafficking charge.
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