HKSAR v. Tang Ching Sum
Read the full judgment text of HCCC 394/2015 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 3 March 2016.
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HCCC 394/2015 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO 394 OF 2015 -----------------
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--------------------------------- Transcript of the Audio Recording --------------------------------- COURT: I have to sentence you for two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The drug in question was cocaine. You were stopped having alighted from your car going to the premises you rented carrying 365 grammes of it. In the premises, a converted container, there was a small amount of drugs which is the subject of Count 2, namely 1.41 grammes of cocaine along with packaging equipment. It would have been explained to you that sentencing for trafficking in dangerous drugs here is based upon guidelines which are in turn based upon the quantity of the drug and the nature of it. You fall in those guidelines in the category that runs from 200 grammes to 400 grammes attracting a sentence of 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment after trial. Your plea of guilty earns you a one-third discount. I have read the letters that have been put before me and I have been impressed by them, and I have no quarrel at all with the sensible submissions made by your counsel to me in mitigation. I will accept his assertion that your role in this was to be a courier for modest amounts of cash. The sentencing in this respect is not just entirely mathematical and I have a discretion to reflect the role you played in the matter, along with the matters of mitigation that have been urged upon me. Accordingly, I shall, in all of the circumstances of your case, take a starting point of 12 years, and with your one‑third discount that gives a sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment. Giving all that I have been told about you, I judge that be to the right sentence in the circumstances. I do not think you could hope for a lesser one. That is the sentence on Count 1. On Count 2, the very small amount there, there will be a concurrent sentence of 16 months’ imprisonment. |