HKSAR v. Ng Hoi Ling

HCCC 180/2018

[2018] HKCFI 2682

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 180 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Ms Ng, you have pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in 132 grammes of cocaine, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134, before the Eastern Magistrate’s Court on 20 May of this year.

The Summary of Facts, which formed the basis of your plea, was read out to you previously, and you confirmed them, and as such you are formally convicted by this court on that plea.

In essence, in the early hours of the morning of 20 August of last year, you were intercepted outside of 128 Tai Po Road in Sham Shui Po and you were searched at that time. You had on you six transparent resealable plastic bags, which were inside a paper bag, and they contained 132 grammes of cocaine.

On arrest and caution, you readily admitted that you were carrying the dangerous drugs and a further search recovered five mobile phones, $892.30 in cash and a very small amount of RMB. That was, in fact, the extent of your cooperation until you pleaded guilty at the committal, because you remained silent in the interview, as is your right.

Of course, you have an absolute right to silence, but once you have pleaded guilty, it is entirely appropriate for the court to take into account the degree to which you have cooperated and been full and frank with the police and at what stage you did so, when assessing the credibility of what you now wish the court to consider on your behalf.

Given your acceptance of the Summary of Facts on the last occasion, it is appropriate for this court to take into account that you said you were trafficking when you were first apprehended.

How you behaved on that occasion, Ms Ng, is indicative of your attitude in the circumstances, when it is set against the other background that the court has been told about. So it is interesting to note that whilst of course you had every right to have the prosecution prove its case against you, you did not assist on your own behalf at that time, and only sought to seek to assist much later in the day, when you fell to be sentenced.

You are 35 years of age and a resident of Hong Kong. I have read your mitigation letters, the one that you have submitted yourself and the one that your mother wrote on your behalf. I note that you were educated, in fact, only up to Secondary 3, and thereafter you worked and studied at night, in order to improve yourself, so that you had a better education level.

I note that you are single and live alone, but that your letters, and in fact that of your mother, indicate that you are close to both of your parents who are divorced, and your grandmother, who I see is elderly and in poor health.

It is sad to see, Ms Ng, that your mother suggests that it is her fault that you have a criminal record because of the fact that she divorced your father when you were younger and that you were raised by him and, I presume his mother, because she seeks to take some blame upon herself when in fact, these actions have happened when you were a mature woman.

We are not looking at your criminal record which goes back to the age of 16. You are now responsible for your own behaviour. And it is sad that your mother felt guilty about the fact that, as a mature woman, she needed to take responsibility for your trafficking.

I actually think it is also sad that you let her do so and that you thought, in some way, that this court was going to lay any blame for what you do as a mature person, at the door of your parents. It has not affected in any way the sentence that I will pass upon you, but I think sometimes we need to stand up and be responsible for our own behaviour, pure and simple.

As I mentioned, you do have a criminal record, sadly that goes all the way back to 1999, when you were just 16. There are three matters known to the court, all of which were for possession of dangerous drugs and for which you have previously received a probation order, suspended sentence and fine. And then latterly, in 2010, you actually received 8 months’ in prison and sadly, yet again, that did not help, did it, because it has not deterred you from re-offending. Only now your offending is such that you are putting people like yourself in the way of drugs, because your behaviour means that other people maintain drug addictions.

You said in your antecedents statement that you were employed as a sales lady, and I understand from the conversation on the last occasion that what that really meant was that you were in finance sales. But you were obviously earning some form of income and so that, I can only assume, that either that income was not enough, or that by in some way helping traffic in drugs, you were obtaining the drugs for your own addiction more cheaply.

I do accept that you are addicted and it is very sad that you are a drug addict. And if there is to be any bright side from a long prison sentence, perhaps it is that one hopes that, at the end of the day, you will not be a drug addict anymore and that you will be able to go back out into society and earn a living and not be any harm to yourself or to others.

I did note that you did not suggest, sensibly, that any part of the drugs that you were carrying were for your own consumption, and therefore of course, I have to sentence you on the total amount that was found on you that day.

The sentencing guidelines for trafficking in cocaine can be found in HKSAR v Lau Tak Ming [1990] HKLR 370. For trafficking in between 50 and 200 grammes, the range of sentencing after trial is between 8 to 12 years. And for 132 grammes, therefore, the starting point after trial would be just over 10 years and 3 months’ imprisonment or 123 months.

But for all of the other matters I have heard, and taking into account the authorities that I have been provided with, I am going to reduce that sentence by a small amount, but I am going to reduce it by 3 months, to 10 years.

You will receive, of course, a one-third discount for your plea at the earliest opportunity, for which I commend you. And I commend you for your other behaviour in the past, Ms Ng. But there is unfortunately no other mitigation which can affect the sentence that I will pass and you will go to prison for 6 years and 8 months.