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DCCC111/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 111 OF 2010
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Before:
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H H Judge Tallentire
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Date:
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2 August 2010 at 10.19 am
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Present:
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Ms Clara Ma, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
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Ms Chan Suk-chi, Terry, instructed by Messrs Kong & Tang, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant
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Offence:
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Possession of a dangerous drug (管有危險藥物)
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a single offence of possession of a dangerous drug, contrary to section 8(1)(a) and (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134.
2. You admitted the brief facts and I convicted you. The facts were as follows.
3. At about 3.45 am on 2 November last, three police officers were on patrol in plain clothes observed you acting suspiciously at the junction of Fa Yuen Street and Fife Street, Mongkok.
4. They followed you to No. 83 Argyle Street and stopped you outside Room 604 on the 6th floor as you tried to open the door of that room.
5. PW1 searched you and found a Mentos sweet box containing three plastic packets containing 9.39 grammes of a crystalline sold containing 8.77 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride in your shoulder bag.
6. PW1 arrested you and under caution you claimed that the dangerous drugs were for your own consumption.
7. You admitted to two previous convictions, both of which were drug related. The last conviction was in 1998, but it attracted a substantial sentence of some 15 years. You were released from prison in October 2007.
8. In view of the nature of the offence, I called for a DATC report. That report is now before me and is largely accepted by you, save in one matter of dispute relating to the nature of your employment after release from prison.
9. I do make it clear that I have read and considered that report.
10. Miss Chan on your behalf entered mitigation. She told me that after your release from prison you had tried to reform but had succumbed to temptation because of difficulties in your life. Primarily, those difficulties related to the break up of your short marriage and the death of your mother, to whom you were very close.
11. Miss Chan submitted that the quantity of dangerous drug was not of the highest and was all for your own consumption. She said in this case there is no element of latent risk.
12. In sentencing you, I did take into account the amount of dangerous drugs, which in my opinion, is not insubstantial; the nature of the charge being simple possession; the mitigation adduced on your behalf and also the contents of the very comprehensive DATC report.
13. I was pleased to note that you are no longer considered to be drug dependent and that the job that you had obtained upon release from prison was still open to you.
14. I note also that you have been in custody some 9 months since your arrest.
15. I am satisfied on the information before me that all those drugs were for your own consumption and there is no element of latent risk in this case.
16. In all the circumstances, I take as a starting point 18 months’ imprisonment, reduced to 12 for your plea of guilty.
17. You will go to prison for 12 months.
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Tallentire |
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District Judge |
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