HKSAR v. Cheng Chi Shing

Case No.HCCC 36/2016

Court

High Court CFI

Date22 Mar 2016

Judge—

Case Document

100%Judiciary

HCCC 36/2016

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 36 OF 2016

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	HKSAR
	v
	CHENG Chi-shing

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Before:

DHCJ V Bokhary

Date:

22 March 2016 at 9.51 am

Present:	Mr P J Power, SADPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
	Mr Simon K C Ng, instructed by Samuel Ho & Co, assigned by DLA, for the accused

Offence:

(1) & (2) Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物)

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

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COURT: The accused, I have taken into account everything that has been urged on your behalf. You stand convicted on your own pleas of guilty of two charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drugs involved in Charge 1 are 4.12 grammes of a solid containing 2.7 grammes of cocaine. The drugs involved in the 2nd count are 612 grammes of a solid containing 492.2 grammes of ketamine.

For the drugs involved in Charge 1, I consider an appropriate starting point to be in the region of about 3 years’ imprisonment. For the drugs involved under Charge 2, I consider a starting point of about 10½ years should be appropriate.

I have considered everything urged in mitigation on your behalf and all your circumstances, particularly your pleas of guilty. I think that a discount reducing the sentence to one of 2 years’ imprisonment under Charge 1 and a discount reducing the sentence to one of 7 years under Charge 2 to be appropriate.

Your counsel has urged me to adopt a combined approach. In any event, either adopting the combined approach or bearing in mind the principle of totality – bearing in mind the fact that there are two charges here - I consider an overall sentence of 11 years starting point to be appropriate. As I have said, in light of your guilty plea I shall give you the full one-third discount thereby reducing the sentence from that starting point to one of 7 years and 4 months.

To achieve that, I shall order 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment under the 2nd charge to be served consecutively with the 2 years’ imprisonment which I have imposed under Charge 1. So for the present offence, you will be sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment under Charge 1 and 7 years’ imprisonment under Charge 2, and I order that 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment under Charge 2 be run consecutively to the 2 years’ imprisonment under Charge 1, thereby making a total of 7 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.

You have committed the present offence during a suspended term of 2 months’ imprisonment which has been suspended for 24 months, and that sentence having been passed on the 28 June 2014.

In all the circumstances, I accede to your counsel’s suggestion that I should not activate that suspended term of 2 months’ imprisonment, so that sentence is not activated in light of all the circumstances of this case.