HKSAR v. Cheng Wai Ming

HCCC 60/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 60 OF 2015

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section (4)(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.

You have admitted on 12 September 2014 at the Arrival Hall of Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point, Lok Ma Chau, you unlawfully trafficked in 2.19 kilogrammes of a crystalline solid containing 2.13 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, otherwise commonly known as ‘Ice’.

On 12 September 2014 at about 7.45 pm, a Customs officer intercepted you at the Arrival Hall of Lok Ma Chau Spur Control Point. You were then brought to a room for a search. Upon entry to the room, you lifted your T-shirt exposing your waist. The officer saw some bags, a white substance, wrapped in transparent plastic wrapping around your waist. You were arrested.

Under caution you said you were busted and was grassed on by somebody. You admitted that the substance wrapped around your waist was ‘Ice’.

Upon removing the plastic wrapping the drugs, as mentioned in the charge, were found in two plastic bags. A Samsung mobile phone was seized from you.

At the time of the seizure, the ‘Ice’ had an estimated street value of $880,380.

The travel movement record revealed you had departed to the Mainland from Hong Kong at Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point at 9.48 that morning.

During a subsequent video‑recorded interview, you said that the drugs were given to you by someone called “Fat Chai”. You were offered $20,000 to bring those two bags of ‘Ice’ from Shenzhen to Hong Kong. The drugs were wrapped around your waist by a man in a Shenzhen hotel room, and you were supposed to bring the drugs to Mong Kok train station to deliver them to somebody else. You had not yet received the reward, and you had used your Samsung mobile phone to communicate with “Fat Chai”.

Mr Victor Ho, your counsel, has mitigated on your behalf. I have taken into account what he said in mitigation. You are 54 years of age. You came to Hong Kong when you were 19 years old. Since coming to Hong Kong you have been in trouble with the law on 10 previous occasions. None of those previous convictions relate to drugs.

There are, however, serious convictions such as robbery in 1990 to which you received 6 years’ imprisonment, and in 2004 for possession of arms or ammunition without a licence to which you were sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment. On various other occasions you were also sentenced to imprisonment, as well as when you were a youngster to detention centre.

You are, therefore, not a newcomer to serving a sentence of imprisonment. You frankly admitted that you committed this offence as you were greedy and you wanted to earn quick money.

You are extremely remorseful for your misdeeds, and as Mr Ho pointed out your strongest mitigating factor is your plea of guilty.

Mr Ho recognises that there will be a lengthy prison term imposed and submitted a case to me of CACC 331/2013 of Nkosi Xolile Rose whereby he made a comparison that in that case the defendant had trafficked in 3.3 kilogrammes of ‘Ice’ yet was sentenced to 17 years and 4 months’ imprisonment, and he compares that case to this case whereby in this case there was only 2.1 kilogrammes of ‘Ice’.

I informed Mr Ho that that case has been since superseded and is no longer relevant for the purposes of my sentencing you for the quantity of ‘Ice’ today because there has been a new case setting down guidelines in trafficking in ‘Ice’. That case is HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun [2014] 3 HKLRD 691.

In large quantities of ‘Ice’, the guidelines as set down in HKSAR v Abdallah is to be followed. Referring to the case of HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437. The guidelines there are between 1,200 grammes to 4,000 grammes an appropriate sentence after trial is one of between 23 to 26 years’ imprisonment.

Defendant, you had trafficked in 2.13 kilogrammes of ‘Ice’, and following those guidelines, had you been convicted after trial an appropriate starting point for that quantity would be one of 23 years and 9 months’ imprisonment.

There is an aggravating factor in this case calling for the enhancement of that starting point. You had brought these drugs in from China to Hong Kong. That is generally referred to as there being an international element. For that aggravating factor the sentence shall be enhanced by a further two years. That means thesentencing point is one of 25 years and 9 months’ imprisonment.

You have pleaded guilty and, therefore, you deserve the full one-third discount and that sentence shall be reduced to one of 17 years and 2 months’ imprisonment to which you shall so serve.