HKSAR v. WONG PAK HO

DCCC130/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 130 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 3.01 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as “Ice”.

2.  The facts admitted by the defendant state that on 9 December a team of police officers conducted an anti dangerous drugs operation in the area of Tin Shui Wai in the New Territories.  The defendant was spotted at 11.40 pm outside a multi-storey car park in Tin Yan Estate.  He was intercepted and searched and a transparent re-sealable plastic bag containing the drugs, the subject of the charge, were found in the right front pocket of his trousers.  The defendant was also in possession of two mobile phones.  Under caution he admitted that he was going to deliver the drugs to earn some money.

3.  He explained at interview that he came to know a man called Ah Ming in the park of the Tin Chak Estate.  He asked him to deliver the drugs for which he was going to receive $50 for the transaction.  He picked up the drugs from a flower-bed in the park of the Tin Chak Estate and then went to the multi-storey car park to deliver the drugs to somebody there.  The street value of the drugs is $2,600. 

4.  The defendant appeared before the court in January 2008 for dissimilar offences, criminal damage and common assault, and was placed on probation.  The defendant pleaded guilty to this offence two weeks ago and I adjourned the case to have the advantage of a report as to his suitability for a training centre.  However, the medical officer of the Correctional Services Department has given the opinion that because the defendant is drug dependent he is not suitable for detention in a training centre.

5.  The defendant is 19 years of age.  He is the only child of a broken home.  His parents divorced in 1995.  He was, at first, entrusted to the care of his maternal grandmother, his mother later re-married and bore a son and the defendant resumed living with the mother and step-father. 

6.  The reporting officer, in the suitability report, states that although the mother was caring, the family failed to render sufficient and effective supervision over the defendant and he turned wayward in his early teens.  As early as Form 1 he joined a Triad Society and indulged in nocturnal activities with dubious peers and, because of his poor academic performance, he had to repeat Form 1 twice.  He showed no motivation in his studies and he did not further his studies after completing Form 1 in July 2007.  Thereafter, he had an aimless lifestyle mixing with dubious peers and he started to take ketamine in September 2007 and became involved in the criminal activity I mentioned before.

7.  Arrangements were made for him to live at the Christian Zheng Sheng College in February 2008.  His performance there was fair and he went home in January of 2010.  Having gone home he soon resumed his previous lifestyle mixing with dubious peers and started to take ketamine in April 2010 and he has continued his involvement with drugs. 

8.  The Court of Appeal has said that for persons caught trafficking in drugs deterrent sentences must be passed.  For trafficking in up to 10 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride the sentence laid down by the Court of Appeal is one of imprisonment for between 3 and 7 years Counsel for the defendant has realistically submitted to the court that the only real mitigation in this case is the defendant’s guilty plea.

9.  Having considered the circumstances of the case, I have decided that the appropriate starting point for this offence should be a sentence of 3 years and six months.  The defendant is entitled to a discount for his guilty plea so that will be reduced to 2 years and 4 months.