HKSAR v. Liu Ka Shing

DCCC 1049/2018

[2019] HKDC 740

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1049 OF 2018

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The Defendant pleads guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs.

2.In the afternoon on 30/8/2018, the police intercepted him when he was approaching his car in a public car park in Lam Tin.  He had the car key, 2 mobile phones and $250 cash on him. 

3.A search of the car revealed 2 small plastic re-sealable packets containing white solids beneath the driver seat carpet.  There were 22 small plastic re-sealable packets containing white solids inside the plastic board next to the acceleration pedal.  These 24 packets contained 10.09 grammes of solids containing 10.07 grammes of cocaine.   

4.A search of his home in Lam Tin revealed 42 empty small re-sealable packets stacked on a small electronic scale in a cabinet inside his room. 

5.In a subsequent video-recorded interview, he admitted under caution that he had bought the car in 2017 and was its sole user.

6.The estimated street value of all the cocaine involved was over $12,000. 

7.At all material times, he possessed the aforesaid drugs for the purpose of trafficking. 

8.In mitigation I am informed that he is 27 years of age, single.  He was education up to F. 3 level.  He was a decoration worker before arrest.  He paid his mother $6,000 per month as household spending.  She suffers from arthritic of the chest and cancer.  He has an elder sister, a housewife.  His father had passed away in 2012.   

9.In 2012 he was sentenced to 3 years for drug trafficking.

10.I understand that he committed the present offence so as to earn money to buy health supplements for his mother.  I do not regard this as an effective mitigating factor for he should not commit an offence to achieve this goal. 

11.The sentencing guidelines indicate that a trafficker of up to 10 grammes shall face 2 – 5 years’ imprisonment (R v Lau Tak-ming [1990] 2 HKLR; Attorney General v Rojas [1994] 1 HKC 342).   

12.I do not regard his record for drug trafficking in 2012 as an aggravating factor in his sentence since he had not committed any offence afterwards until the present case. 

13.I take a starting point of 5 years (or 60 months).  One-third off for his plea of guilty, the sentence is 3 years and 4 months (or 40 months).