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HCCC237/2009
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 237 OF 2009
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge Longley |
| Date: |
9 September 2009 at 9.51 am |
| Present: |
Mr Peter John Power, SPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Fan Shun-yan, Edward, instructed by Samuel Ho & Co, assigned by DLA, for the Accused |
| Offence: |
(1) Possession of a dangerous drug (管有危險藥物)
(2) 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: Yan Pui-wai, you have been committed to this court for sentence following your pleas of guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to one charge of possession of dangerous drugs and one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug.
The offences came to light as a result of the police executing a search warrant at your home at a room in Lung Fung House in Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate on 21 March this year.
In that room, they found a considerable quantity of methamphetamine hydrochloride, some of which you admitted was for your own consumption, but the majority of which you admitted you intended to supply to someone else or to other people.
The total value of the drugs was approximately $142,000.
The drugs which you admitted were for your own consumption are the subject of the 1st charge. They consisted of 3.82 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 3.51 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. The drugs were in seven small packets and in a Vita Lemon cardboard drinks carton which had been adapted for consumption of dangerous drugs.
The drugs in which you intended to traffic were in a pink plastic bag containing a total of 19 smaller plastic bags. The quantity of methamphetamine hydrochloride was 211.02 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 209.01 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Inside your room, the police also found a small electronic scale and packaging equipment.
You have not been before the courts before for an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs. You have, however, been before the courts on six previous occasions for the offence of possession of a dangerous drug. On three of those occasions, you were sentenced to detention in a drug addiction treatment centre. You have even, on one occasion, served an immediate term of imprisonment for that offence.
Your previous contact with drugs would have left you in no doubt that very serious consequences would follow if you were found to be trafficking in dangerous drugs. The trafficking charge is by far the most serious of the two.
I am satisfied that it warrants a starting point of 12 years’ imprisonment.
Insofar as the offence of possession of dangerous drugs is concerned, I adopt a preliminary starting point of 18 months’ imprisonment, which I enhance by 9 months to reflect the real risk that you would have been tempted to traffic in those drugs as well as the others.
Accordingly, the final starting point for the possession charge is 27 months’ imprisonment.
I have listened to all that has been said on your behalf by Mr Fan, and I have also read the letters that have been given to me written by you and by your father and sister. I hope that you mean what you say when you say that you intend to put the past behind you and lead a law-abiding life after your release from prison. The only real mitigation, however, in this case are your pleas of guilty, for which you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third.
On Charge 2, which is the trafficking charge, I sentence you to 8 years’ imprisonment.
One Charge 1, which is the possession charge, I sentence you to 18 months’ imprisonment; both sentences to run concurrently with each other.
The total sentence therefore is 8 years’ imprisonment.
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