COURT: Defendant, on 14 April 2020, you pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs before a magistrate. At the same time, you admitted the Summary of Facts which were read to you. You admitted that on 6 December 2018 at Shek Wai Kok Estate, Tsuen Wan, New Territories in Hong Kong together with Wong Wing-yee Cherie, unlawfully trafficked in 102.1 grammes of a solid containing 56.4 grammes of cocaine. You were committed to the Court of First Instance to this court for sentence.
On 3 December 2018, the Customs at the Hong Kong International Airport intercepted an inbound parcel from overseas. Upon inspection, the parcel was found to contain the drugs in the amount of which is the subject of the charge. The drugs were concealed inside bottles of lotion. You were named as the consignee of the parcel.
Three days later, the Customs conducted an operation to deliver the parcel to the name on the parcel. The Customs officer was disguised as a postman and delivered it to the address of which you confirmed you were the consignee of the parcel, signed on the receipt and physically received the parcel.
Under caution, you said that a friend asked you to collect the parcel. You had forgotten the name of your friend. You agreed to collect the parcel for a reward of $800 because you were in need of money and your friend would ask another person to collect the parcel from you.
With your consent, the Customs then conducted a controlled delivery operation. Under the Customs’ supervision, you called a person, a friend, your friend, who you say was Ngo Sang or Hung Chai, at the number as you provided to the Customs for instructions as to how to deal with the parcel. You then received phone calls from the co-accused, Wong Wing-yee Cherie, and you brought the parcel downstairs to her. She was arrested by the Customs after receiving the parcel from you.
In a video-recorded interview, you then further told the Customs that you had a gambling debt of around $20,000 to $30,000. You were asked by Ngo Sang or Hung Chai or Fai Chai to provide your address for collecting the parcel, this time you say for a reward not of $800 but for $1,000 and you were told the parcel would arrive on 6 December.
The retail value of the cocaine was around $105,000.
Your counsel, Ms Juliana Chow, has detailed written mitigation, which I have read, and has expanded upon that today before this court. You are 64 years of age, married, but your wife has left you in 2007. You have received education up to Primary 6 and you were living alone at the reported address on the parcel before the current offence. You were a casual worker earning approximately $14,000 per month. You have been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia for some 40 years and are taking regular medication and attend follow-up at the Princess Margaret Hospital every six months. You also suffer from diabetes.
I have also received a letter from you in Chinese today of which Ms Chow has submitted confirming to me that you are informing me that you have been suffering from psychotic problems for many years, you worked on a casual basis and you have asked this court for leniency. You have four previous convictions, none of which are related to drugs but three are related to gambling.
In Ms Chow’s written submissions, she has stated that there is no international element in this case, however she now accepts before me today that there is an international element involved. It is clear that this parcel came in from overseas or at least abroad and on the parcel itself, it appears to have come from Canada. You therefore knew that you were receiving a parcel from Canada of which contained drugs.
In her usual thoroughness, Ms Chow has referred to the guideline case for trafficking in quantities less than 600 grammes for cocaine which is R v Lau Tak Ming and the case of HKSAR v Chung Ping Kun [2014] 6 HKC 106, for the suggested guidelines for the international element of amounts below 1,000 grammes.
I accept in this case, defendant, that you had assisted the Customs and Excise in conducting a controlled delivery wherein the Customs and Excise successfully arrested the lady, Wong Wing-yee Cherie, upon receipt of the parcel when she came to collect it from you. The case to which Ms Chow correctly referred to is HKSAR v Lo Sze Tung Stephanie [2019] 1 HKC 309, whereby the Court of Appeal in that case discussed the issues of discount in relation to assistance to authorities.
Defendant, in the present case, you fully co-operated with the Customs and Excise upon your arrest and you voluntarily participated in the controlled delivery of which the woman was arrested. Upon her arrest, a search was conducted at her premises and another batch of drugs was found.
There was another -- also another parcel found which was similar to the present parcel with your name as a consignee. However, there is no evidence that you led the police to this address and that you knew anything about the drugs in her premises and there is no evidence of which, even though you were the consignee of that parcel, that you had received that parcel. Ms Chow today has informed me that you do not wish to assist the police or the Customs any further.
Defendant, for the amount of drugs that you were trafficking in, that is 56.4 grammes of cocaine, had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 8 years’ imprisonment.
There is an aggravating factor in this case in that there is the international element, that is, that you knew the parcel was coming from overseas containing drugs and on that basis your sentence will be enhanced by 1 month. That means the starting point for your sentence is 8 years and 1 month had you been convicted after trial.
The discount to which you shall be awarded is that of 40 per cent which includes your plea of guilty at the first opportunity and your assistance to authorities.
In the circumstances you will be sentenced to 4 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.