COURT: The defendant, Leung King-hung, faces one count of conspiracy to traffic in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a), 4(3) and 39 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134 and sections 159A and 159C of the Crimes Ordinance, Cap 200. He pleaded not guilty and was convicted by the jury after trial.
Summary of Facts
The facts disclosed during the trial was that a 13-year-old boy, ‘Ah Tung’, agreed to deliver drugs for others at the beginning of July 2020. He then obtained some dangerous drugs upon instructions and kept them at home.
On 10 July, he chanced upon his slightly older, 15-year-old schoolmate, ‘Ah Pan’, and he recruited Ah Pan to join him in the dangerous drugs trafficking activities.
On 14 July, they met up and made deliveries at various locations in Hong Kong. Then came a time on the same day, when Ah Tung had to pass over the money collected from the dangerous drug trafficking to his superior or boss, arrangement was made for Ah Tung to meet the superior at Diamond Hill. Both Ah Tung and Ah Pan went there and met two unknown man. According to Ah Pan, one of the two was the defendant. The other person was called ‘Tai Tau’.
According to Ah Pan, the defendant and Tai Tau both counted the money and claimed the sum did not tally with the drugs sold. Tai Tau then took Ah Tung to a tunnel and beat him up, and the defendant was present at the time. After the beating, the four of them went to the California Hotel to check the dangerous drugs which Ah Tung had kept inside the room. According to Ah Pan, both Tai Tau and the defendant counted the packets and was satisfied that nothing was missing. Ah Tung said he was the one who did the counting and took a video of the counting to show someone called Amy. According to Ah Tung, he had contacted with this Amy via Telegram and by phone. Amy told Ah Tung that the amount tallied. So after being satisfied that the amount of money and the quantity of dangerous drug tallied, the two men with the two boys left the hotel.
So while they were all still in the Tsim Sha Tsui area, they happened to see some uniformed police officers. The four then separated into two groups. The defendant was with Ah Pan while Ah Tung was with the other man. As Ah Pan had the bag containing the dangerous drugs, he was arrested. The defendant did not have any dangerous drugs on him but he was also arrested as Ah Pan implicated him. In the meantime, Ah Tung and the other man were let go after questioning by the police.
Ah Tung was being blamed for causing these people trouble. The man with Ah Tung, that is, the one Ah Pan said was called Tai Tau, called others to come. Ah Tung was first taken to somewhere in Choi Hung where he was beaten up with fist and kicked by five persons. He was then taken to a water catchment area in Tsz Wan Shan by three of those five people. There, demands were made to his friends and relatives to bring money to set Ah Tung free. And Ah Tung was further beaten up by these three men, one of whom used a metal pipe picked up from the ground to beat him. Ah Tung was finally set free after he agreed to work for Amy as compensation. He was sleeping inside the hotel room when the police barged in and arrested him.
The dangerous drugs seized by the police only represented the remainder after both Ah Tung and Ah Pan had been making deliveries at various locations in Hong Kong. There was a total of 44.76 grammes of ‘Ice’, 0.28 grammes of cocaine and 9.42 grammes of ketamine.
The retail price of all these dangerous drugs were estimated to be between $37,000 and $38,700-odd.
There was no direct evidence that the defendant was a party to the conspiracy to traffic dangerous drugs. By convicting him, the jury must have been sure, by reference to the evidence which they accepted, that the defendant was present at the Diamond Hill incident, and together with the other man identified as Tai Tau, had gone to the hotel room at California Hotel with Ah Pan and Ah Tung. And the jury must have also been sure that the defendant had, by his action, demonstrated that he was a party to the conspiracy as charged.
Background and Mitigation
The defendant is now a single 26-year-old man. He claimed to be unemployed at the time of the arrest. He is not a man with a clear record. He had convictions for acting as a member of a triad society, trafficking in dangerous drugs and theft.
In mitigation, Mr Alan So, stressed that the defendant was cooperative and did not waste the court’s time. While Mr So does not dispute that the defendant was a member of a syndicate, he stressed that the role played by the defendant was relatively minor; the defendant is still young. Mr So asked this Court to be as lenient as possible, so that the defendant could turn a new leaf.
Consideration of the sentence
Trafficking in dangerous drugs is a serious offence. A person convicted of this offence on indictment is liable to a fine of $5 million and a life imprisonment. A conspiracy to traffic dangerous drugs is even more serious than the actual trafficking.
The evidence showed that the defendant is part of a syndicate supplying dangerous drugs locally. Members of the syndicate made use of youngsters to do their dirty business.
In the present case, Ah Tung picked up the dangerous drugs first and kept them at his home waiting for instructions. Then, on 14 July, he received instructions to deliver kinds of dangerous drug of different quantities to various customers at different locations.
In using youngsters like Ah Tung, the other members avoid the risk of being caught with the dangerous drugs. After the youngster, in this case, Ah Tung, had finished delivering dangerous drug, members of the syndicate collected the money generated from the sale of the dangerous drugs.
According to Ah Tung, he was beaten up by members who accused him of not having the correct amount of money to correspond the number of packets of dangerous drugs sold. Ah Tung was further beaten up when he was accused of causing the syndicate trouble when Ah Pan and the defendant were arrested. No less than another five men were involved in beating up Ah Tung near Choi Hung. And he was further beaten up at the water catchment area by three of the five men. One even used a metal pipe to hit him. And Ah Tung finally agreed to work for the syndicate as compensation. So one can see the length this syndicate goes to commit the serious crime of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
On the evidence before this court, I accept that the defendant was not the mastermind or held any high position in the syndicate, but nevertheless, he still played an important role in the syndicate. Having considered the scale of the operation as outlined and bearing in mind the role played by the defendant, I am of the view that a starting point of 20 years is appropriate.
There is, of course, an aggravating factor in this case and it is the drug syndicate exploited two youngsters, aged 13 and 15 at the time, to act as couriers to deliver dangerous drugs to various customers on 14 July 2020. I need to adjust the sentence upwards to take into account this factor. I am of the view that 2 years would be appropriate for this. With the upward adjustment, the starting point is therefore one of 22 years.
The defendant pleaded not guilty, so there is no discount for plea. I do not see any other grounds to reduce the sentence.
So for the offence of conspiracy to traffic in dangerous drugs, the defendant is sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment.