HKSAR v. Tam Dickson Tak Shun

HCCC 338/2016

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 338 OF 2016

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

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COURT:

Tam Tak-shun, you pleaded guilty in the Eastern Magistrates’ Court, on 22 July 2016, to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134, in that you accepted that you trafficked in a total of 418 grammes of ketamine.

The facts of your offending have been reduced to a Statement of Facts which has been read out in court and to which you have agreed. You were found to be in possession of 418 grammes of ketamine within a plastic bag you were carrying, outside Pei Ho Street, Sham Shui Po, on 9 January 2016. At the time of your arrest, you said that the “K Chai” was for your own consumption. You now say that you were delivering it to a friend.

The street value of the drugs at that time was HKS65,000 and you said you were to receive drugs to consume for yourself as part of the payment for doing that.

You are now 31 years of age and were recently unemployed at the time of your arrest, having worked, presumably on and off, as a cook in a teahouse until that went out of business. Your addiction, Mr Kwan says on your behalf, did not stop you working 10 to 12 hours per day when you were at liberty to do so. But I note that your extensive criminal record suggests that a lot of time was spent in prison or in DATC.

Given your past record, you are a very lucky man indeed today to have a father who cares sufficiently to be in court to support you. I have listened to everything that Mr Kwan has said on your behalf, including his frank admission on your behalf that you had absconded and were on bail at the time that you were arrested for this offence.

You are an addict, Mr Tam, and you have a serious problem which must be addressed if you are ever to lead a life without resort to crime. Ironically, the sentence which I am about to pass will help you do so and may provide you with further opportunity to better yourself; for your education and to show your family that you can lead an honest life when you are released.

You do have an extensive criminal record, almost wholly for matters relating to possession of dangerous drugs and one matter for trafficking in dangerous drugs. You were just 23 years old when, as a first offence, you were sentenced to 8 months’ imprisonment for possession of dangerous drugs. You could not have been out of prison very long when you reoffended and received a further 4-month sentence of imprisonment for possession, and in 2011, you received a 14-month sentence of imprisonment for trafficking in dangerous drugs. You were before the courts again in 2014 and in January of this year. You have had an opportunity to attend DATC but it clearly has had no effect. These are serious matters and they are matters that are escalating so far as you are concerned.

It has been said by the Court of Appeal on many occasions that there is little personal mitigation which can reduce the sentence which the court must ordinarily pass and that, I am afraid, is the case here. For trafficking in ketamine, the sentencing guidelines, as Mr Kwan has told the court, after trial, are set out in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1, and for between 300 and 600 grammes, the starting point for sentencing after trial is between 9 to 12 years.

For trafficking in 418 grammes of ketamine under Count 1, the starting point after trial is therefore 10 years and 3 months. I have not heard anything which suggests I should depart from that sentence to your benefit, and there is the absconding which would normally be taken into account, but I will assume that that was done by the magistrate when he sentenced you for the last matter on your record and therefore I will not add to your sentence for that.

You have pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, to your credit, and you have saved the court time and precious resources. You will be given a full one-third discount for your plea and you will go to prison for 6 years and 10 months.