CRIMINAL CASE NO. 22 OF 2012
COURT: On 26 October 2011, you came into Hong Kong carrying with you methamphetamine hydrochloride which you had in your possession, 116.52 grammes. When you were approached by a police officer, you took the drugs out of a bag and threw them into a flowerbed.
When you were arrested and cautioned, you admitted having committed the offence. You were later interviewed and again admitted the offence and explained that you had brought the drugs into Hong Kong in return for a small financial reward.
You chose to deny the offence at trial. Had you not done that, you would have received a full one-third reduction from the starting point. You denied having made any admission to the police initially and also asserted that you had participated in the interview because the police had made inducements to you. It was only after the admissions were ruled to be admissible that you decided to change your plea to one of guilty.
As I know you have been told, there are clear guidelines provided by the Court of Appeal for the appropriate starting point after trial in matters of this nature. The quantity of methamphetamine hydrochloride which you imported into Hong Kong falls within the band between 70 and 300 grammes which prescribes a period of imprisonment of between 10 and 14 years.
You are no stranger to drugs. You have one previous conviction for trafficking, albeit many years ago, and you have four previous convictions for possession of dangerous drugs. It appears that you are drug-dependent so you well know the misery that is spread by drugs and yet you were quite happy to help spread that misery in Hong Kong by importing these drugs.
The appropriate starting point for the quantity which you had, in accordance with the tariff, is 10 years 9 months’ imprisonment. Because of the factor of introduction of the drugs into Hong Kong from the mainland, I enhance that by a period of 6 months to 11 years and 3 months. It may be that a further small enhancement would be justifiable by virtue of your criminal record but I do not propose to take that step.
I will reduce that sentence for your plea of guilty by a period of 2 years. That results in a sentence of 9 years and 3 months’ imprisonment. There are no further factors of mitigation either in your personal circumstances or in the circumstances of the commission of this offence.
Consequently, you will serve a period of 9 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.