HKSAR v. Wong Yi Ching

HCCC 112/2017

[2019] HKCFI 46

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 112 OF 2017

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Ms Wong, you have been found guilty after trial of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134.

You were trafficking in 26.3 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “Ice”, as it is commonly called, when you were stopped in the early hours of the morning of 28 August of 2016 in Whampoa Street and found to have “Ice” concealed within a Samsung Galaxy III mobile phone telephone box. There was just the one packet of “Ice” and it was not for your personal consumption.

The street value of that “Ice” was HK$9,000.

I know that you are 23 years of age, that you have a criminal record which commenced when you were just 15 years of age and I note that you have previously been before the court twice for possession of dangerous drugs, and on those occasions, you received both probation and DATC orders.

I have taken into account all that has been said on your behalf by Mr Leung, including your family background which is unfortunate because I do note that you have not had the correct parental supervision and I know that no one from your family attended during the whole of the trial which is very sad indeed. But I have not enhanced your sentence in any way because of your previous offending and I am certainly not going to aggravate it even though you had only recently left DATC when you were found to be offending again.

The relevant sentencing guideline for the offence of trafficking in “Ice” in August 2016 is HKSAR v Tam Yi Chun [2014] 3 HKLRD 691. For trafficking in between 10 and 70 grammes of “Ice”, the sentencing range is between 7 and 11 years as Mr Leung has mentioned to the court, and for trafficking in 26.3 grammes of “Ice”, I consider the starting point for you to be 8 years.

The trafficking of drugs in Hong Kong is a very serious offence, Ms Wong. Deterrence is therefore an overwhelming consideration for this court. And whilst I heard about your personal background and I am sympathetic to it, in the face of such a serious offence, there is nothing, unfortunately, which has been said on your behalf by Mr Leung which could warrant a more lenient course than would otherwise be the case. And as you have heard, I have to take note of the fact that you are not remorseful and that you have not accepted the verdict of the jury by offering any explanation whatsoever about what you were doing at 1 o’clock in the morning delivering a mobile phone to a customer in Whampoa Street which was wholly unaccepted by the jury. I have to take that into account.

You put the prosecution to proof as is your right, but in so doing, you lost the opportunity to obtain any discount at all because you are now to be sentenced after trial and so you will go to prison for 8 years.