HKSAR v. Lai Chin To

HCCC 232/2018

[2018] HKCFI 2800

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 232 OF 2018

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

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COURT:

Defendant, on 30 July 2018 you pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The 1st charge concerns you trafficking in 3,817 grammes of a solid containing 629.8 grammes of cocaine. The 2nd charge concerns you trafficking in 10,526 grammes of a solid containing 3,040.7 grammes of cocaine. Both charges were committed on the same date, that is 8 September 2017 and at Causeway Bay on Paterson Street.

The 1st charge, related to you carrying those drugs in a bag at 22 Paterson Street and the 2nd charge related to drugs in the premises at Room B, Flat A2, 5th Floor, Block A, Paterson Building.

On 8 September at about 7 am, police officers spotted you leaving Paterson Building carrying a black cloth bag, walking towards a private vehicle parked at No 22 Paterson Street. They saw the two indicator lights flashing then you approached the vehicle and opened its driver's door. The officers then tried to subdue you and in the meantime you threw the black cloth bag to the ground. The drugs as mentioned in Charge 1 were found in that bag together with one packet of sugar and one pair of gloves.

You were arrested and cautioned. You stated that you were instructed by “Hac Chai Sing” to take the bags of soft drinks and place them inside a locker at Shun Tak Centre. You told the officer that you got the bags of soft drinks from a room inside the building and you could lead the police there. You then led the officers to the premises as mentioned in the second charge that is Room B on the 5th Floor of Paterson Building. You unlocked the door with a white key card which you had in your possession.

A search was then conducted inside the room during which the drugs in the 2nd charge were found. Also found were one electronic scale, a box of resealable plastic bags and 3 pieces of paper bearing handwritten numbers. You were cautioned again. You stated that the four bags of soft drinks which were found in the black bag was originally part of the drugs found in the flat, and you were going to take them to Shun Tak Centre using the vehicle which you had borrowed from your friend.

In a subsequent cautioned video-recorded interview, you stated that you ran into “Hac Chai Sing” about a month ago and he offered you $5,000 for each kilogramme of cocaine you delivered. You were given the key card to the flat two weeks ago. When you mentioned the word “soft drink”, you meant “cocaine” and you had weighed each bag of drug that you were carrying on Paterson Street using the electronic scale that was found in the flat. When you had weighed the drugs found upon you in the street, it was about 3 kilogrammes and therefore your reward would have been about $20,000. However you had not yet received the reward.

It was your first time visiting this flat and the first time delivering drugs for others. You did not write the words on the paper seized and did not know who placed them there.

The total quantity of drugs found in the bag and in the flat was 14,343 grammes of a solid containing 3,670.5 grammes of cocaine.

The estimated street value of these drugs was $13,195,560.

The total number of bags found were 4 bags in the black environmental bag and 16 bags of drugs in the flat, making a total of 20 bags.

Defendant, you are 25 years of age, you are of clear record when you committed this offence and since that time you have been convicted of an offence of claiming to be a member of a triad society to which you were sentenced to 4 months' imprisonment on 1 May 2018. That offence, I am told by the prosecutor Ms Yip, was committed in January 2017 but this case of trafficking was committed in September 2017.

You are a Form 5 graduate, and were at the time of arrest, a worker at a construction site as well as a hawker selling lunch boxes. You are single and live with your mother, age 50 and your sister age 20 in Tung Chung.

I have received numerous letters from your family and friends as well as yourself, explaining to me why you committed this very serious offence. Turning first to your letter, it is clear to me that you committed this offence as you had wanted to raise money for your sister's school fees and under pressure you were attracted by the idea of earning fast money. You have been very frank and your early admission that is upon arrest that the commission of this offence shows that you are deeply regretful for committing this very serious offence.

From the many letters I have received, it is clear to me that the tide changed in your family as result of the sudden passing of your father some 4 years ago as the sole breadwinner of your family -- 4 to 5 years ago. Your mother suffered great depression and has been seeing a doctor as result of the consequences from the passing of your father.

In 2015, your sister commenced her studies at the Hong Kong Baptist University's reading Psychology. Your father's savings were used to pay the first two years of tuition fee at approximately $50,000 annually. The fees however, increased between 2017, 2019 to $80,000 and therefore there was much burden upon you taking up the main breadwinner's responsibilities for both your mother and your sister. As a result of you trying your level best to assist your sister whom I am told both by herself and you have a very close relationship, you were led by your dubious peers to commit this offence so as to raise fast money for her fees.

It appears to me that your heart is in the right place and your friends and family and relatives have all spoken meritoriously about you being a very good son, friend and brother who has worked responsibly to support your mother and sister. You had tried to relieve the financial burden by committing this crime. However you did so with open eyes knowing that this was a serious offence.

Your family and friends have asked this court and urged this court to be lenient and to give you a chance.

The court as I am sure that you have been advised by your counsel, Mr Boey, sympathizes with you as to why you have committed this very serious offence.

However, your very persuasive mitigation and said state of affairs is unfortunately not something this court can take into account in discounting the sentence nor does it play a strong or any mitigation in your commission of this offence.

The strongest mitigating factor is your early plea of guilty. You entered your plea of guilty at the first opportunity and earliest opportunity and on that basis the one-third discount is appropriate. As your counsel, Mr Boey, has stated, for the commission of this very serious offence there are tariffs laid down by the Court of Appeal. In respect of the quantity of drugs to which you were trafficking in, the guideline tariff case is that of Abdullah. Abdullah sets guidelines for large quantities of drugs. Defendant, the quantity of drugs you were trafficking in was a very, very large quantity. As you can see by the estimated value of these drugs, they were some $13.2 million, that is a very, very valuable and huge amount of drugs.

The tariff laid down for trafficking cocaine between 1,200 grammes and 4,000 grammes is a sentence of between 23 and 26 years' imprisonment, if you had been convicted after trial.

Defendant, as I had mentioned, there is nothing in your personal circumstances which lead me to reduce the sentence other than your early plea of guilty. The total amount of drugs you were trafficking in in both charges is 3,670.50 grammes of cocaine. Had you been convicted after trial, an appropriate starting point would have been one of 25 years and 6 months' imprisonment. You have pleaded guilty and therefore the one-third discount applies and that shall reduce your sentence to one of 17 years' imprisonment, to which you shall be so sentenced.

I will now sentence you individually for both offences. On Charge 1, there was an amount of 629.8 grammes of cocaine. Had you been convicted after trial, the appropriate starting point would be one of 20 years' imprisonment. Giving you one-third discount for your plea of guilty, that would reduce the term to one of 13 years and 4 months' imprisonment.

On Charge 2, there were 3,040.70 grammes of cocaine. Had you been convicted after trial, an appropriate sentence would be one of 24 years and 9 months' imprisonment. Giving you a one-third discount for your early plea of guilty that reduces that term to one of 16 years and 6 months' imprisonment.

Defendant, to reflect the 17 years' imprisonment, I order 6 months of the 1st charge to run consecutively to the 2nd charge and the remaining term to run concurrent.