HKSAR v. Leung Yu Kin
Read the full judgment text of DCCC 315/2018 on BabelCite. This District Court judgment.
1. The Defendant pleads guilty to 3 charges as follows:
Cites 3 cases
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DCCC 315/2018 [2019] HKDC 709 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO 315 OF 2018 -----------------------------------
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---------------------------- Reasons for Sentence ---------------------------- Charges and facts 1.The Defendant pleads guilty to 3 charges as follows:
Facts 2.In the small hours of 20 December 2017, when the Defendant was going back to his residence at Kwai Shing East Estate, the police intercepted him and found on him four keys and a mobile phone. They then executed a search warrant against his residence. 3.One of the said keys could open a mini safe on the TV table. The mini safe contained a cotton bag containing 6 re-sealable plastic bags containing cocaine, a re-sealable plastic bag containing 4 packets of ICE and 1 re-sealable plastic bag containing 1 packet of ICE (altogether the subject-matter of Charge 1). 4.Apart from the aforesaid, in his residence were found the following:
5.The Defendant was arrested and cautioned for the 3 offences in question. He admitted that the dangerous drugs were for selling. In the subsequent interview under caution, he said that one part of them were for selling and another part of them were for self-consumption. He bought 12 grammes of cocaine for $5,500. He would sell the cocaine at $1,200 per gramme while drinking at bars. He would sell small bags of cocaine weighing 0.2 gramme per bag at $300 - $400. 6.The police estimated the cocaine to be valued at $1,165 per gramme. For the 10.6 grammes of the mixture, the price would be $12,349. The ICE was valued at $452 per gramme. For the 3.91 grammes of the mixture, the price would be $1,767. The entire quantity would be valued at $14,116. Mitigation 7.The Defendant is 39 years of age. He had a record for drug trafficking, resulting in a sentence of 4 years 4 months in October 2013. His counsel Ms. Lau informs me that for the said drug trafficking, he was released from prison in November 2015. It was 2 years 1 month after he had been released from prison for it that he committed the present drug trafficking offence. 8.He had 2 records for possession of dangerous drugs, resulting in DATC each time in 1996 and 2017 respectively. There were other records not relevant to the present offences. 9.He committed the present drug trafficking offence to make a living. 10.Ms. Lau submits that the Combined Approach is appropriate here. I understand that it means, where the Court has to sentence on a mixture of dangerous drugs, it has to decide on a starting point by reference to the more potent and plentiful drug and then make adjustment to it due to the remaining drug(s). Sentence guidelines 11.Traffickers of cocaine shall be sentenced to 2 – 5 years for up to 10 grammes (R v Lau Tak-ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370; A.G. v Rojas CAAR 15/1993). 12.Traffickers of ICE shall be sentenced to 3 – 7 years for up to 10 grammes (HKSAR v Tam Yi-chun [2014] 3 HKLRD 691). Sentencing the Defendant 13.The Defendant was selling the drugs at a high profit. I consider a starting point of 5 years for the cocaine and another 3 months due to the ICE. I take 5 years 3 months (or 63 months) as the starting point for Charge 1. I do not aggravate his sentence as I regard a gap of two years one month between 2 drug trafficking offences a marginal case of repeat offending. After the one-third discount for the guilty plea, the sentence is 42 months. 14.On Charge 2, I pass a sentence of 3 months on his guilty plea. 15.On Charge 4, I pass a sentence of 1 month on his guilty plea. 16.I make the sentences concurrent. The overall sentence is 42 months.
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