HKSAR v. Lau Yiu Ming

HCCC 190/2018

[2019] HKCFI 957

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 190 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

The defendant has pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drug in the Magistrate’s Court and has been committed to this court for sentence. The 1st charge charges him with trafficking in 55.9 grammes of a mixture containing 45.4 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and the 2nd charge charges him with trafficking in 692.17 grammes of a mixture containing 562.01 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

The facts are quite common in that the defendant was stopped in Tai Kok Tsui and on a search, hidden inside his underpants were found the drugs contained in the 1st charge. These drugs were packaged into two separate packets. Upon a search of the defendant’s home, a rucksack was found on a bed and inside the rucksack were found the dangerous drugs which is the subject matter of Charge 2 together with two electronic scales and some empty transparent resealable plastic bags.

In a subsequent video-recorded interview, the defendant admitted that the drugs were for sale and he had been selling drugs for around two months earning $260,000 and he was expecting to earn around eighty to a hundred thousand dollars this time.

The estimated street value of the drugs was HK$475,024.

The defendant is aged 47 and has a poor record. He has 21 previous convictions, 15 of which are drug-related and five was for trafficking. His last conviction was in 2009 in the High Court for which he was sentenced to over 5 years’ imprisonment. And now he is back again with more drugs, and the only mitigation I can see in this case is his early plea. Nothing came of what the matters which were disclosed in the Sivan procedure apart from the fact that it would perhaps show his remorse. So his remorse is reflected in his early plea in the Magistrate’s Court. So he is entitled to the full one-third discount.

As Mr Cheung correctly pointed out, following the guideline in Abdallah [2009] 2 HKC 197, the total amount of heroin, adding the amounts in the 1st and 2nd charges together, is 607.41 grammes. According to the guidelines laid down in Abdallah, for trafficking in between 600 to 1,200 grammes, the sentencing suggestion after trial would be between 20 to 23 years’ imprisonment.

So I would, on the basis of the quantity, adopt an overall starting point of 20 years. I will not increase it in any way because although he had a bad record, however, he has indicated his remorse by his early plea and, as I have said, the circumstances which has emerged in the Sivan procedure does indicate a certain amount of remorse, and I will therefore give the defendant one-third discount from the 20 years’ starting point and therefore his overall sentence will be one of 13 years and 4 months.

So in the 1st charge, he is sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment and deducted one-third off will give him 4 years’ imprisonment. And then on the 2nd count, I will take a 20 years’ starting point and reduce it to 13 years 4 months, and two sentences will be served concurrently.