HKSAR v. Yuen Wing Chung

HCCC 269/2024

[2025] HKCFI 3260

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 269 OF 2024

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

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COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one count of manufacturing dangerous drugs. He is committed to this court for sentence.

In the evening on the 25 March 2023, the defendant was intercepted by police officers outside his residence at Yau Tong. Upon a search of one plastic bag carried by the defendant at the time, 59.8 grammes of cocaine was found.

The defendant was then taken back to his residence where 414.15 grammes of cocaine was also seized. In addition to the cocaine, a number of paraphernalia such as chemicals, equipment and apparatus used to convert cocaine hydrochloride into cocaine base was also found.

Under caution, the defendant admitted that he used his residence to convert cocaine hydrochloride into cocaine base for reselling as he was in debt for several hundred thousand dollars.

The street value of the cocaine was estimated to be slightly over HK$750,000.

The defendant is now 34, educated up to secondary level in Hong Kong. Prior to his arrest, he worked as a renovation worker. He has a clear record.

The starting point for trafficking in 59.8 and 414.15 grammes of cocaine based on quantity alone would be one of 99 months and 178 months respectively.

The defendant, of course, was not acting simply as a courier, as he was also charged for manufacturing dangerous drugs. The additional aggravating feature of his role can be absorbed and subsumed into that charge. The defendant, of course, will be given the one-third discount for his plea.

As such, for Count 1, the defendant will be sentenced to 66 months’ imprisonment. For Court 3, the defendant will be sentenced to 118 months’ imprisonment. As for Count 2, the total quantity of cocaine seized on that day in question was 474 grammes. The starting point based on quantity alone would be one of 188 months’ imprisonment.

The scale of the manufacturing in the present case was not sophisticated or in any large scale. The converting process involved no more than O-level chemistry. The apparatus used was simple and basic. The only chemical involved was sodium bicarbonate, which one could purchase from supermarket.

The premises was leased only at the beginning of March, ie less than one month before the arrest. As such, in my view, an additional 22 months would be added to reflect the aggravating features of this case.

Given his plea, the sentence is therefore reduced to 140 months’ imprisonment. After a careful consideration of all the circumstances of the case, it is ordered that all the sentences imposed will be run concurrently to each other.