HKSAR v. TSANG KEI YIN

DCCC 1051/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 1051 OF 2012

----------------------

---------------------

Reasons for Sentence

---------------------

1. The defendant has pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs.

2. On 5 August 2012, he trafficked in 6.17 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.  Having been arrested and granted bail for that offence, the following week he committed an identical offence.  This time the amount of drugs involved was 4.94 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

3. In relation to the first offence, the facts admitted by the defendant state that on 5 August, at about 5.40 pm, an officer was on uniform patrol in Shanghai Street in Mongkok when he saw the defendant acting furtively.  He was intercepted for search, and the drugs, the subject of the 1st charge, were found in his possession.  At the time of his arrest, he had over $2,000 in his possession.  He admitted that the items seized were heroin and that he had purchased it earlier that day from an unknown male inside a park for $7,500.

4. Two days later, he appeared before the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court and was granted court bail. 

5. At 6.10 pm on 12 August, an officer was patrolling in Shanghai Street near Shantung Street, Mongkok, when he spotted the defendant acting furtively.  32 small pellets of heroin were found inside the right front pocket of his shorts.  He was arrested and under caution admitted that the items seized contained heroin that was for his own consumption and he had purchased the drugs from a drug addict in a public park in Shanghai Street, Kowloon for $5,500.  At the time of his arrest, the defendant had cash of $3,920 in his possession.

6. Whilst in custody at Lai Chi Kok, he defecated 21 small packets of heroin.  He admitted having swallowed those packets because he was afraid of being arrested.

7. The street value of all the drugs seized was over $18,400.

8. The defendant has appeared before the court on six previous occasions between 1993 and 2004.  In 2002 and 2003, he appeared for charges of possession of dangerous drugs.  For that offence, for the second offence, he was placed on probation but he breached the probation order and was sent to a drug addiction treatment centre.

9. The defendant is 34 years of age.  He is married.  His wife is a housewife, and I understand that she is a psychiatric patient and they have a son aged 11.  The defendant, who is the sole breadwinner of the family, had worked as a decoration worker for some 10 years, and the company he worked for eventually closed down and he was unable to get his salary which had been outstanding for many months.  I am told that it was in those circumstances that he was led into committing these offences.  He had to borrow money to support his family and his drug habit and he was being pressed by the persons who had given him the loans for repayment.

10. The main mitigation features of this case are that the defendant has pleaded guilty to the offences.  He has been out of trouble since 2004.  In a letter to the court, he says that he has decided to correct himself and when he is released, he hopes to contribute to society and be a responsible role model for his child.

11. I have taken into account that as regards the 2nd charge, that was committed whilst on bail for the 1st charge and that the court has said in the past that where offences are committed on bail, sentences imposed should be ordered to be served consecutively. 

12. Taken by themselves, each of the offences would attract a sentence of about 3 and a half years.  I will take into account the fact that some of the drugs would have been for his own consumption.  What I have decided to do is to take a starting point for each offence of 3 years, to reduce those sentences by one-third to reflect the guilty plea, and order that the sentences run consecutively. 

13. The defendant will go to prison for 2 years on each offence, the sentences to be served consecutively, a total of 4 years’ imprisonment.