HKSAR v. Ho Shuk Mei, Sara

HCCC 324/2016
[2018] HKCFI 275

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 324 OF 2016

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

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COURT:

You have been charged with two offences of trafficking in a dangerous drug in Count 1 and Count 2.

In respect of Count 1, you have denied that you were trafficking in a dangerous drug, but have admitted possession of a dangerous drug. The prosecution have accepted your plea of guilty to possession of a dangerous drug.

In respect of the 2nd count, you have pleaded guilty to trafficking in a dangerous drug.

In respect to these two charges, you have admitted that on 26 December 2015, at the 9th Floor of Acro Industrial Building, No 19 Yuk Yat Street, To Kwa Wan, in Hong Kong, you committed these two offences.

In respect of Count 1, that offence was committed outside of Room B902, and you have admitted to being in possession of 6 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 5.84 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

In respect of the 2nd count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, you have admitted that you were trafficking inside Room B902 in the amount of 68.64 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 67.33 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

Acting on information at around 10.35 pm on 26 December 2015, police officers spotted you outside Room 902, they approached you, and upon a search, you took out from your left front pocket the drugs stated in Charge 1, which was wrapped in tissue paper. You were arrested, and under caution, you said, “Ah Sir, give me a chance. These ‘Ice’ are for my own consumption.”

Those facts are in relation to Count 1.

The key of Room 902, a bag containing a pipe cleaner, a vacuum suction pump and a brush was also seized from you.

The officers conducted a search of the flat with the aid of a search warrant. Inside a drawer of the bedside cabinet, the drugs mentioned in Charge 2 were found. In total, there were 52 packets of the drugs “Ice”. Also found was an “Ice” bottle for inhaling dangerous drugs which subsequently was certified to contain 12 millilitres of a liquid containing traces of methamphetamine, an electronic scale and three batches of empty resealable plastic bags containing several tens of small, transparent resealable plastic bags.

The street value of all the “Ice” seized was $22,467, as in December 2015. Your DNA was found on the bottle used for inhaling “Ice” seized from the flat.

Defendant, you are 42 years of age, and you have eight previous convictions, four of those offences are related to dangerous drugs. You have two similar to Charge 1, that is, for possession of dangerous drugs, those offences were committed in 2001, and in 2012. You were convicted of a similar offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug, for which you were sentenced to 40 months’ imprisonment, and for possession of equipment fit for smoking or inhaling dangerous drugs, to which you were sentenced to 4 months’ imprisonment, concurrent to the 40 months.

Your counsel, Mr Leung Chun-keung, has informed me that you are a drug abuser, you do abuse drugs, and he has submitted a urine test report from the Lo Wu Correctional Institution showed that for a urine test conducted on 29 December 2015, upon admission to the Correctional Institution, it yielded positive for amphetamine. Mr Leung has mitigated on your behalf, that apart from the drugs found in Charge 1, some 9.45 grammes of the drugs in Charge 2 were for your own consumption.

He says that these, as can be seen from the Government Chemist Certificate at page 299, are 12 separate plastic bags of drugs. He has also referred me to photographs of where these drugs were contained, that is, in a black, small purse shown in photo 32, 33, onwards to photograph 39. I have said to Mr Leung during mitigation that I do not accept that those packets of drugs were for your own consumption, given the various sizes, different sizes and different colours of the bags. He has informed me that you do not wish to give evidence to say otherwise. He accepts that this is not a significant amount of the quantity of dangerous drugs in Charge 2. That is correct, it is just slightly over 10 per cent of the drugs amount in Charge 2, it is clear from the Court of Appeal decisions that unless a significant proportion of the drugs are for one’s own use, there is no discount from the starting point.

Defendant, you were working as a waitress, earning between $10,000 to $15,000 a month. Your strongest mitigating factor is your plea of guilty. The guideline case for trafficking in “Ice” is that of Tam Yi Chun. Defendant, for Charge 1, possession of dangerous drugs, you were in possession of 5.84 grammes of “Ice”. Had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 18 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term is reduced to one of 12 months’ imprisonment.

For Charge 2, you were trafficking in 67.33 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as “Ice”. Had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 10 years and 9 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term shall be reduced to one of 7 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.

I order the term in Charge 1 to run concurrent to the term in Charge 2, which makes a total term of 7 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.