HKSAR v Tang Cho-wai

HCCC 347/2018

[2019] HKCFI 373

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 347 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 29 October 2018, you pleaded guilty before a magistrate at the Eastern Magistracy to two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. Upon your plea of guilty, you were committed here to the Court of First Instance for sentence.

The two charges, offences of trafficking, were committed on 4 February 2018 at No 387 Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, in Hong Kong. In respect of the 1st charge, that offence was committed at the staircase of No 387 Shanghai Street and you were trafficking in 2.56 grammes of a solid containing 1.92 grammes of ketamine.

In respect of the 2nd charge, this was committed at the same location but on the 1st floor at Room B. You had unlawfully trafficked in 25.30 grammes of a solid containing 24.80 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 8.42 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 8.23 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 3.84 grammes of a solid containing 3.73 grammes of cocaine and 22.90 grammes of a solid containing 11.80 grammes of ketamine.

The facts are simply that on 4 February, early in the morning, police officers observed you at 7.41 am leaving Room B of 1st Floor, No 387 Shanghai Street, acting furtively. They then intercepted you at the staircase of the 1st floor of the building. You were searched and in your left rear trousers pocket were two plastic bags containing the drugs as stated in Charge 1.

Upon initial inquiry, you admitted to the police officers that you resided in Room B. A search was then conducted inside Room B where the drugs as stated in Charge 2 were found. A further nine empty resealable plastic bags, three mobile phones and one notebook and cash of $1,800 were found.

At the time of your arrest, you were in possession of another mobile phone and cash of $1,386.30 and keys to Room B. Upon your arrest and caution at the staircase after the drugs in your pocket were found, you confessed that you were bringing the dangerous drugs for another person and that you did not have a habit of taking drugs.

Upon your arrest and caution after the drugs in the room were found, you said that you received the dangerous drugs that morning and you were going to sell them the same day.

The total value of the drugs was $26,774.12. That is broken down to the following amounts. The estimate street value for ‘Ice’ was $12,071.76, the cocaine was $4,976.64, and for ketamine was $9,725.72. There were approximately 60 bags of drugs found in the premises.

In your video-recorded interview, you confessed that the mobile phones seized were to be used in relation to trafficking in dangerous drugs. You received messages by WeChat on your mobile phones for orders from buyers. The notebook seized from the room was a record of the drug transactions. You stated that you had received $100 for the first 10 successful sale of the drugs and $500 for each transaction thereafter. You did not have a habit of consuming drugs.

Defendant, Mr Roderick Wu counsel has submitted his written mitigation and I have taken into account all that he has had to say on your behalf. You are 39 years of age and are of clear record. You are married but estranged from your husband and you have two children, one daughter aged 17 and a son aged 10 who are both at school. You suffered from thalassemia, which is a blood disorder, and epilepsy. At the material time, you lived alone at Room B.

Mr Wu has said that you had in 2004 assisted your parents when they started a small pub business in Kowloon. You had ceased working for them in 2015 and since that time, you have had difficulty in securing steady employment. In order to kill time, you spent much of your leisure time at games centres playing electronic games and that is, as Mr Wu said, unfortunately, where you met your wayward friends who introduced you to earn quick money by trafficking in dangerous drugs.

You did not consider this carefully and took to earning quick money to pay off a debt of which you had racked up of some $35,000. I am informed that you realised that you will be spending some time in prison and you have mapped out your future so as to embark on your studies in improving English and learning bookkeeping. Further, since your incarceration awaiting sentence, your daughter has visited you regularly and you now understand your lifelong responsibility towards your children.

Mr Wu has submitted to me all the appropriate cases in trafficking in these cocktail of drugs, that is for ‘Ice’ the leading case is Tam Yi Chun, for cocaine that is Lau Tak Ming, and for ketamine, Hii Siew Cheng.

In sentencing you for these two charges, defendant, I take the combined approach. Firstly, I intend to deal with Charge 1. Charge 1 stands alone in that there is only one drug there of ketamine to which you were trafficking in 1.92 grammes of ketamine. Had you been convicted after trial, an appropriate sentence would be that of 2 years’ imprisonment. Your strongest mitigating factor is your plea of guilty, and only mitigating factor, and you shall be awarded the full one-third discount. In the circumstances for Charge 1, you will be sentenced to 1 year and 4 months’ imprisonment.

For Charge 2, there are three kinds of drugs. In taking the combined approach, and I adopt the conversion approach, that is that I shall convert the drugs of cocaine and ketamine to ice and come to a total amount of ‘Ice’. I shall convert the cocaine and ketamine to ‘Ice’. So you were trafficking in 3.73 grammes of cocaine. That would equate to about 3 years’ imprisonment if you were to be sentenced in accordance with Lau Tak Ming, and in conversion to ‘Ice’, that would be approximately 0.30 grammes of ‘Ice’.

In respect of ketamine, you were trafficking in 11.08 grammes. If you were convicted after trial, that would be approximately 4 years’ imprisonment and if I convert that amount to ‘Ice’, it would be approximately 2.64 grammes of ‘Ice’. The total quantity of ‘Ice’ that you were trafficking in was 33.03 grammes. So adding up 33.03 plus 0.30 plus 2.64, would equal to a total ‘Ice’ of 35.97 grammes in Charge 2.

In sentencing you in accordance to Tam Yi Chun for 35.97 grammes, had you been convicted after trial, the appropriate sentence would be one of 8 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. Giving you the full one-third discount for your plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity, I shall reduce that term to one of 5 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.

In respect of Charge 1, if I convert 1.92 grammes of ketamine to ‘Ice’ it is a nominal, if not a non-quantifiable figure and, therefore, I order the sentence in Charge 1 to run concurrent to Charge 2.

You are, therefore, sentenced to a term of 5 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.