Read the full judgment text of CAAR 000002/1994 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 16 August 1994 before Macdougall V-P, Litton JA, Bokhary JA.
Criminal law – trafficking in dangerous drug – cocaine hydrochloride – sentencing guidelines – application by Attorney General for review of sentence – applicant intercepted at Kai Tak Airport with cans containing 595.37 grammes of cocaine hydrochloride – trial judge applied Chan Chi-ming v. R. [1979] HKLR 491 guidelines – whether Lau Tak-ming guidelines apply to cocaine hydrochloride – whether leave to appeal against conviction should be granted – scope of discount where sentence greatly increased on review. Held, dismissing the conviction application: the jury was entitled to disbelieve the applicant's claim that the sealed cans contained only olive oil and milk powder; the trial judge fairly summarised the evidence and accurately directed the jury. Held, allowing the Attorney General's review: the Chan Chi-ming guidelines were completely revised in R. v. Lau Tak-ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370, and the Lau Tak-ming guidelines apply to cocaine hydrochloride because Attorney General v. Leung Pang-chiu [1986] HKLR 608 equated cocaine with a hard drug attracting tariffs similar to Chan Chi-ming, while Attorney General v. Pedro Nel Rojas A.R. No. 15 of 1993 (unreported) further equated cocaine hydrochloride weight-for-weight with salts of esters of morphine for sentencing purposes; the expression 'SEM' in Lau Tak-ming referred to a mixture purity, not to salts of esters of morphine. The proper sentence was 20 years' imprisonment, but a discount of 4 years was allowed because the sentence was being very greatly increased on review, giving a substituted sentence of 16 years' imprisonment. Orders: leave to appeal against conviction refused; Attorney General's application for review of sentence granted; sentence of 6.5 years substituted with 16 years' imprisonment.
Legal issues: Whether leave to appeal against conviction should be granted · Whether Chan Chi-ming or Lau Tak-ming sentencing guidelines apply to cocaine hydrochloride trafficking · Appropriate substituted sentence for trafficking in cocaine hydrochloride
Outcome: Application for leave to appeal against conviction refused; Attorney General's application for review of sentence granted; sentence increased from 6.5 years to 16 years' imprisonment.
Cited by 1 case