HKSAR v. Alam Maksud

HCCC 175/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 175 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 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 that on 10 December at the junction of Wong Chuk Street and Fuk Wa Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, you unlawfully trafficked in 1.38 kilogrammes of a powder containing 489 grammes of cocaine.

On that date and at that location, you were intercepted by police officers for a search. At that time you were carrying a paper bag and within the paper bag was a red plastic bag. The drugs were found in that red plastic bag in 87 packets.

The retail value of the cocaine found on your person and for the purposes of trafficking was estimated to be $1,320,660.

You are 41 years of age, married, with a daughter aged 13. Your family lives in India. You come from India and you are a torture claimant in Hong Kong. You have three previous convictions, all of which are related to drugs, two of possession of dangerous drugs and one similar of trafficking in dangerous drugs in 2014 to which you were sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment.

Mr Oliver Davies, your counsel, informs that me that that charge of trafficking involved cannabis and was social trafficking in that you were sharing the drugs with your friends, and the sentence reflects the non-severity of that offence.

The guideline case for trafficking in cocaine is Lau Tak Ming. The amount to which you trafficked in falls in the bracket of 400 to 600 grammes of which a starting point after trial is a term of imprisonment between 15 years and 20 years.

For the purposes of this offence I will not consider your previous trafficking offence as an aggravating factor.

In following the guideline tariff as laid down, had you been convicted after trial I would have adopted a starting point of 17 years’ imprisonment.

Your strongest mitigating factor is your plea of guilty and you will be given the customary one-third discount and you shall serve a term of 11 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.