HKSAR v. Chong Tung Kwok

HCCC42/2018

[2018] HKCFI 1243

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 42 OF 2018

-----------------

-----------------

-------------------------------------------

Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

-------------------------------------------

COURT:

The defendant had pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to one count of trafficking in dangerous drug, namely, 6.37 grammes of a solid containing 3.43 grammes of ketamine, 130 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 114 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride and 4.36 grammes of a solid containing 4.08 grammes of cocaine. He has been committed to this court for sentence.

The facts are that in the early hours of the morning of 13 August, the defendant was riding a bicycle, and when stopped by the police, he had on his person in his trouser pocket the drug which is the subject matter of the charge. He admitted under caution that he was intending to sell the dangerous drugs. In a subsequent video-recorded interview, the defendant claimed that he needed money because his girlfriend was pregnant and that someone had offered him $2,000 reward to carry the drugs to another person at a taxi stand at Lei Yue Mun Village.

The total estimated street value of all the seized dangerous drugs was around HK$59,578.

The defendant is aged 25 and has a very poor record for a 25-year-old. He has two previous convictions of possession of dangerous drugs and one for trafficking in dangerous drugs for which he was sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment in 2009. However, that did not teach him a lesson because he again indulged in this present offence.

Miss Vivien Chan in mitigation has said all she can possibly say on his behalf. There were letters submitted, one from the defendant himself and one from the defendant’s sister. It only reflects how the defendant has wasted the love and care of his family. Miss Chan said that the defendant intends to turn over a new leaf, and I hope he will use this chance in prison to turn over a new leaf. Otherwise, I can see him 40 years down the road, spending most of his life in prison. So the court can only hand down the punishment which is merited in the case but it is up to the defendant to better himself during this time.

Now, the defendant was found with a cocktail of drugs. That is 3.43 grammes of ketamine, 114 grammes of “Ice” and 4.08 grammes of cocaine. The majority of the drugs is “Ice” which is 114 grammes, and according to the guideline sentence laid down in HKSAR v.Tam Yi Chun[2014] 3 HKLRD 691, 114 grammes would merit a starting-point sentence of about 11 years. Then there are the other drugs in relation to ketamine. There is the Secretary for Justice v. Hii Siew Cheng[2009]1 HKLRD 1 case, and the amount of 3.43 grammes would attract about a 2-and-a-half-year-starting-point sentence, and for 4.08 grammes of cocaine would merit a starting-point sentence of about 3 and a half years according to the guideline of The Queen v. Lau Tak Ming[1990]2 HKLR 370. As Miss Chan has so diligently worked out, the starting-point sentence in this case would be something in the region of 11 years onwards.

I prefer to sentence by making the sentence according to methamphetamine guideline because it is the majority of the drugs in what was found. And so adding up all the quantities would give us a total of 121.51 grammes of drugs, and according to the sentence-guideline case in Tam Yi Chun [2014], for trafficking in between 70 to 300 grammes of “Ice” would merit a starting-point sentence of 11 to 15 years.

In this case, you have 121.51 grammes. So it would merit a guideline sentence of 11 to 11 and a half year. I will take the 11 years’ starting point, and giving him one-third off, the sentence will be 7 years and 4 months.