HKSAR v. Lam Yik Lung

HCCC 206/2018

[2018] HKCFI 2854

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 206 OF 2018

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

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COURT:

Lam Yik‑lung, I am not going to preach a long sermon to you. As a drug user yourself, you know the evils of this filthy trade which you lent your aid to.

You were found with a very large quantity and a very extensive variety of prohibited drugs. There was a mixture of 2,074 grammes, which contained 2,070 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, a substance we call ‘Ice’; there were 612 grammes of a powder containing 323.46 grammes of ketamine, and there was a very small quantity of cocaine, a mixture of 4.98 grammes which had 4.15 grammes of cocaine in it. Also found in your flat was a sealing machine, two scales, both contaminated with dangerous drugs, and a large quantity of resealable plastic bags. Clearly, you were engaged in a drug packaging and distribution operation.

The agreed value of the drugs, the street value, is HK$977,101, nearly a million dollars.

It is well-established sentencing policy in these courts that those who choose to traffic in a mixture of dangerous drugs aggravate their offence because they cater for a wider market than the trafficker in just one type of drug.

I know that Ms Lai, your counsel, will have told you of the strict guidelines that are laid down for all judges as to how we should sentence people who choose to trafficking in dangerous drugs. They are based on the weight, the narcotic weight, of the drugs involved, and judges are required to stick to those guidelines unless there are very good reasons for us not to do so, and there are no such very good reasons in your case.

Following those guidelines - and I have made the appropriate adjustment to take account of the fact that different varieties of drugs were involved, - for the quantity and mixture of drugs in this case that you trafficked in, and taking into account the aggravating factor that you were dealing in a mixture of drugs, had you taken this case to trial, had you pleaded not guilty, had a jury found you guilty and had you had no mitigation whatsoever, you would have been looking at a sentence of 24 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.

There is nothing in your personal circumstances which I find of mitigating value. I am sorry to hear that your father has been ill, but there again, many men, when they get into their seventies, develop the problems that your father has developed. I hope that you will take advantage of the educational opportunities that the Corrective Services Department offer prisoners.

Your only mitigation, and it is the most powerful mitigation, is that you cooperated with the police, you admitted your guilt to the police, you pleaded guilty before the magistrate at the earliest stage that our process of justice permits. All that indicates remorse and it indicates realism on your part, and perhaps more importantly, enables me to reduce your sentence quite considerably. In fact, by one‑third.

So I am reducing the sentence that you would have received after trial, which would have been one of 24 years and 6 months, I am reducing that by one-third, to a sentence of 16 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.