The dangerous drugs involved in this matter is 166.3 grammes of a solid containing 155.4 grammes of cocaine.
The estimated street value of the relevant drugs is in the range of HK$186,000 to HK$244,000.
The defendant was intercepted by police on 19 October 2018 at Mongkok MTR Station. The relevant dangerous drugs were found contained in seven packets inside a black plastic bag on the defendant. Under caution, the defendant admitted helping others to deliver the drugs for a reward of $500 per packet.
The defendant is now 45 years old. He is divorced. He is educated up to Form 3 level. He has 15 previous criminal convictions, mostly involving possession of dangerous drugs and managing a vice establishment. He has one previous conviction of trafficking in dangerous drugs for which he was sentenced for 68 months’ imprisonment in 2008. For that sentence, he was released from prison in 2011.
In mitigation, Ms Wu, counsel for the defendant, said the defendant committed the present offence due to his financial hardship. Ms Wu submitted that after the defendant’s arrest, he got closer to his children and his son is getting married very soon and will support the defendant’s living in the future. The defendant now wishes to live together with his son and expected grandchild and he does not want to give a bad influence to his grandchild.
The defendant has also written a letter to this court, explaining to this court that he was in financial hardship and because of that he committed the present offence. He now wants to have a new life and asks for leniency from this court.
Now, trafficking in dangerous drug is a very serious offence. A person committing this offence will inevitably face with a long term of imprisonment. The Court of Appeal has laid down sentencing tariff in respect of different kinds of dangerous drugs for this offence. The sentencing tariff of trafficking in cocaine is laid down in the case of Lau Tak Ming. Under the tariff, for trafficking in 50 to 200 grammes of cocaine, the appropriate starting point for sentence should be in the range of 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment.
In this case, the quantity of cocaine involved is 155.4 grammes as submitted by Ms Wu in her written submission. The appropriate starting point should be 10 years and 9 months’ imprisonment.
The heavy sentence imposed for this kind of offence is for the purpose of deterrence. Usual mitigating factors such as personal circumstances and financial hardship are not valid mitigating factors.
In this case, the only valid mitigating factor is the defendant’s plea of guilty and as the defendant has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, he is entitled to a discount of one-third.
In the circumstances, the sentence of the defendant is reduced to 7 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.