HKSAR v. KWAN WAI HON

 DCCC748/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 748 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Kwan Wai-hon, you have been convicted on your own pleas of one charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs and one charge of simple possession of dangerous drugs.

2.  The charge of trafficking involved 40 packets containing 7.9 grammes of a mixture containing 5.58 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and 30 individually wrapped tablets containing a total of 0.42 grammes of midazolam. Those drugs were found in your trouser pocket when you were stopped by police in Shek Kip Mei Estate in the early morning of 6 May this year. You admitted that you had been asked to deliver the drugs in return for a reward of $600. The street value of those drugs was approximately $9,000.

3.  After you had been admitted to Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre the following day, you admitted that you had drugs concealed in your body. Those are the drugs that are the subject of Charge 2, the charge of simple possession. They were in three packets containing a total of 0.72 grammes of a mixture containing 0.52 grammes of heroin hydrochloride. The street value of those drugs was about HK$664.

4.  You have a long record of offences involving dangerous drugs, including two previous convictions for trafficking in dangerous drugs. You had only been released from prison, a month and a half before you committed these offences. You would have been in no doubt that if you trafficked in dangerous drugs again, very serious consequences would follow if you were caught. Nevertheless, you decided to take that risk.

5.  Although when you started to commit drug offences, courts attempted to give you the chance to rid yourself of your drug addiction by sentencing you to a drug addiction treatment centre, it appears that you did not take advantage of those chances and consequently, subsequently the courts have been forced to resort to terms of imprisonment, except on one occasion.

6.  In view of the gravity of these offences, this court has no alternative but to pass upon you a substantial term of imprisonment. As I am sure Mr Lai will have informed you that the normal starting point for those who have trafficked in up to 10 grammes of heroin is imprisonment between 2 and 5 years.

7.  Bearing in mind your past history and all the circumstances of this case including the quantity of drugs involved in the trafficking charge, the number of packets and the inclusion of midazolam, in my view, the appropriate starting point on the trafficking charge is a sentence of 4 years’ imprisonment.

8.  In the case of the 2nd charge, the charge of simple possession, I adopt an initial starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment. Bearing in mind the quantity, I am prepared to accept that there there was little risk that you would have decided to traffic in those drugs and I am prepared to adopt a final starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment.

9.  There are really no mitigating circumstances in this case beyond your pleas of guilty and for those pleas you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third. I very much hope that what Mr Lai has said on your behalf is correct and that you genuinely do on this occasion intend to rid yourself of your addiction to dangerous drugs.

10.  On Charge 1, I sentence you to 32 months’ imprisonment, that is 2 years 8 months. On Charge 2, I sentence you to 8 months’ imprisonment, to run concurrently with the sentence on Charge 1. Your total sentence is therefore 32 months’ imprisonment.