HKSAR v. Chung Chi Man

HCCC 279/2019

[2019] HKCFI 3009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 279 OF 2019

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

The defendant, who is now 46 years old, pleaded guilty in the Eastern Magistrates’ Court on 19 August this year to the two charges of trafficking in methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as ‘Ice’, for which he is today due to be sentenced.

I have to say that it borders on being scandalous that it took just over 15 months for this simple, albeit very serious, case to be transferred from the Magistrates’ Court to this court. The arrest was on 11 May 2018.

The facts are straightforward. The defendant left premises in Yuen Long rented in his name under the watchful eyes of Customs officers. When the premises were searched, a solid containing 14,171.39 grammes of ‘Ice’ (that is Charge 1) was found in the premises. Much of this was bagged up in approximately 1 kilo or half kilo amounts. I shall ignore for sentencing purposes the finding of very small quantities of two other types of drugs.

Also found were large quantities of drugs paraphernalia, including electronic scales, glass beakers, test tubes, all of which had traces of ‘Ice’ on them. In the flat next-door to the defendant lived his girlfriend, and she is only linked to this inquiry because a car key was found in the defendant’s flat and when inquiries were made about that car key, it was found to be registered in the name of his girlfriend next-door. In due course, that flat also was searched, and the drugs subject to Count - Charge 2, rather - a further 55.8 grammes of ‘Ice’ were found in the flat. And to his credit, the defendant admitted that these were his also. Amongst other things, a further electronic scale was found together with $50,000 and what appeared to be a dangerous-drug formula.

The value of the ‘Ice’ altogether was $7,973,652.

Now, I have read all of the letters which were supplied to me and which were sent by members of the defendant’s family, each of which asks for leniency to be shown. Firstly, it does need to be said that the defendant’s record of 6 years’ imprisonment in 1991 for manslaughter and 16 years’ imprisonment for trafficking in dangerous drugs in 2004 shows that the defendant has learnt nothing from his prior criminal experience.

Secondly, in the sentencing guidelines for trafficking in heroin which now also apply to cocaine and ‘Ice’, the sentencing band, as Mr Wong has correctly said, for this quantity which in total comes to 14,226 grammes, the sentencing band for that amount comes between 4,000 and 15,000 grammes, for which 26 to 30 years’ imprisonment is recommended after trial. Clearly, the quantity in this case, again as Mr Wong has realistically appreciated, is at the uppermost level.

What I am proposing to do is to take a starting point here of 29 years’ imprisonment which is the sentence that I would have imposed had the defendant not pleaded guilty to these charges. As it is, he has pleaded guilty at the appropriate time. Beyond this, the defendant has left no room at all for any leniency. In fact, I could probably be criticised for failing to enhance the defendant’s sentence on account of his appalling record.

Mr Chung, would you stand, please? Having regard to your timely pleas of guilty, your sentence on Charge 1 will be 19 years and 4 months. On Count 2, there will be a sentence of 6 years and 8 months but that will run concurrently with the sentence on Count 1. What that means is that your total sentence will be 19 years and 4 months.