HKSAR v. Yiu Chi Ming

HCCC 333/2017

[2018] HKCFI 1386

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 333 OF 2017

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

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COURT:

The jury has convicted you on overwhelming evidence of guilt.

The cocaine, which was in a solid which weighed 173.9 grammes, had a narcotic content weighing 160.4 grammes, worth just under $158,000.

You will be well aware of the sentence that has to be passed for such an amount, as the Court of Appeal, as Mr Boyton, your counsel, has just indicated, has laid down very clear sentencing guidelines, and those guidelines depend on the narcotic weight found in the drugs which have been trafficked.

You have done nothing to mitigate your position. Despite the weight of the evidence against you, you have shown not the slightest remorse, even though at the very start it appeared as if you were quite happy to admit what you had done, instead of which you have alleged that the police fabricated evidence against you, and I must tell you, in case you wonder what the position is, that I am not permitted and will not add to your sentence on account of the way you have conducted your defence. Equally, though, you will receive no discount to your sentence as you would have done if you had pleaded guilty.

You have got a dreadful record for someone of your age, 34. Amongst other charges, you have had two previous convictions for the possession of cocaine, one of which resulted in a short prison sentence, and of course your last sentence was one of -- I make it 6 years, Mr Boyton. I heard you say 5 years, I think, in your speech. Maybe that was a slip of the tongue. But it is 6, isn’t it?

MR BOYTON: I believe so, my Lord. I didn’t have the criminal record at the time.

COURT: Right. Anyway, as you well know, your sentence for this must be even longer.

The heroin guidelines in R v Lau Tak Ming and Others, which was a case decided in 1990 2 HKLR, which have also been adopted for the drug cocaine, provide the guideline, again, as Mr Boyton rightly said, of 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment for amounts of between 50 and 200 grammes.

In your case, the amount that you were trafficking was near the top end of that bracket.

Would you stand, please? Following the guidelines, your sentence is that you must go to prison for 10 years and 9 months.