COURT: Defendant, on 10 July 2023, you pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug before a magistrate sitting at the Eastern Magistracy. As a result of your plea of guilty, you have been committed to the Court of First Instance for sentence. You pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs whereby on 15 November 2021, outside Ground Floor, No. 41 Ngan Hon Street, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, you unlawfully trafficked in 181.8 grammes of a solid containing 156.9 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. This drug is commonly known as ‘Ice’.
The facts in support of this charge has been admitted by you and they can be stated as follows.
On 15 November 2021, acting upon information, a team of police officers laid ambush at Ngan Hon Street, Hung Hom. At around 9.40 pm, they intercepted a private vehicle registered XC1633, which I will refer to as the car, and driving the car was you, the defendant. They intercepted the car at the address as stated in the charge.
Upon search of the vehicle, the drug as quantified in the charge was found in 31 plastic bags in two locations of the car. One was at the cup holder between the driver and the front passenger seat and the other on the front passenger seat.
Once the drugs were found, the defendant was arrested and cautioned. Under caution, the defendant admitted that he had trafficked in the dangerous drugs for money and the car was lent to him. Upon search, cash of $5,548.50 was found, two mobile phones and the car key to the car.
In a subsequent video-recorded interview, defendant admitted under caution that he trafficked in the dangerous drugs for money. He knew that the 31 plastic bags contained dangerous drug but did not know the type, he would earn $1,500 for the delivery and that the cash found on his person, as stated earlier, were proceeds of selling drugs. He also informed the officer the car was provided to him for the purposes of trafficking dangerous drugs.
The estimated street value of the drug at the material time was $127,078.
At the time of commission of this offence, defendant, you were 26 years of age. You are now 28 years old. You are single and obtained Form 6 education. You have one previous conviction for drink driving which you were fined $4,000 and disqualified for 12 months in June 2020. At the time of the commission of the offence, you lived with your parents and sister.
Ms Liza Yip, your counsel, informs this court that after graduating and until 2020, you had been working as a car salesman earning approximately $30,000 to $40,000 per month. Unfortunately, the economy turned bad and you lost your job. In 2020, you changed to work in the transportation industry as a driver doing deliveries earning $15,000 per month. However, as result of your being disqualified from driving, you were unable to work as a driver and from September 2021, you became unemployed.
Since that time, you have been depending on the allowance of a few thousand dollars from your parents. Ms Yip informs me that as you were an adult man, you felt shameful to rely upon your parents to provide for your living and thus when you were approached by your former colleague who asked if you were interested in earning quick money, you agreed.
For this offence, you were contacted by someone over the phone to collect the car you were driving on that day and were given cash of $5,000. You were also told by that person you were to deliver the dangerous drugs and earn $1,500. You were told at the time that you must be careful of the police. Ms Yip has informed the court as you were desperately in need of money and were a relatively young man, you were easily manipulated as you were offered a chance to earn quick money. You took the risk without thinking through the serious legal consequences of your actions.
I am informed you are not a drug addict, so understandably you said you had no idea of what kind of drugs you were dealing with.
I received five letters of mitigation, one from yourself defendant, one each from your parents, your sister and one from your pastor, Wong Chi-kun. Your parents and the pastor are here in court today supporting you. The pastor has summed up really, in brief, that you got involved in this offence as you had been misguided and you deeply reflect on your past mistake. You have experienced this painful lesson and you realise the wrongdoing and how it has affected your family and friends, causing unnecessary worry and burden. Nevertheless, as is stated from your parents and sister, they support you and that is why they are here today. Generally, your parents and sister say you are a good person.
No doubt you have been informed that trafficking in dangerous drugs is indeed a very very serious offence. In your letter written to this court, I believe you understand the severity of this offence. Nevertheless, during your time in prison you are determined to improve yourself.
I have today received a letter that that you attended a course whilst being in prison at the VTC, a food and hygiene certificate -- as a hygiene manager course and you will continue to do so. I understand you will also be taking a taxi driver’s licence.
Defendant there are clear guidelines for trafficking in the dangerous drugs ‘Ice’. The guideline case for trafficking in ‘Ice’ is that of Tam Yi Chun and the amount you had been trafficking in is an amount of 156.9 grammes of ‘Ice’. That would fall within the band of 70 to 300 grammes according to Tam Yi Chun. Should you have been convicted after trial, that would attract a sentence of between 11 and 15 years.
Defendant, in this case, you were clearly a courier of drugs delivering drugs to other people. There are no aggravating factors in this case. In regard to the mitigating factors, the strongest and only mitigating factor is your plea of guilty at the first opportunity which for that you shall be awarded a one-third discount.
Defendant, given the quantity of drugs that you were trafficking in, had you been convicted after trial, an appropriate starting point will be one of 12 years and 3 months’ imprisonment. Giving you credit for your early plea of guilty, I am reducing that term by one-third. You shall be sentenced to 8 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.