HKSAR v Lam Chung-him
Read the full judgment text of HCCC 413/2025 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 23 June 2026.
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HCCC 413/2025 [2026] HKCFI 4181 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO 413 OF 2025 -----------------
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--------------------------------- Transcript of the Audio Recording of the Sentence in the above Case
COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. He is committed to this court for sentence. On 19 August 2024, police officers stopped the defendant outside a unit of an industrial building in Hung Hom. Inside a carton box the defendant carried, police officers found 4.93 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. Further search of the unit in question yielded another 15.962 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. The defendant was then arrested by police officers. Under caution, the defendant admitted that he was assisting others to store and deliver the methamphetamine hydrochloride in question to others. The street value was estimated to be over HK$11 million. The defendant is now aged 30, educated up to secondary school level. Prior to his arrest, he ran a Pokémon game card trading business, making approximately $10,000 each month. Mitigation letters from family and friends and social workers have been produced. Understandably, they asked for leniency. Given the circumstances of the defendant’s arrest and the seizure of the methamphetamine hydrochloride in question, the two charges could be treated as one single transaction. Guidelines on sentencing are clear. The notional starting point for trafficking in 20.891 kilogrammes of methamphetamine is one of 28 years and 2 months. In view of the work that the defendant provided for students in special need, I am prepared to reduce the starting point to one of 27 years and 9 months. Although the amount of methamphetamine hydrochloride was substantial, without further evidence pointing to otherwise, the defendant will be treated as a simple courier. The only major mitigating factor in this case is the defendant’s plea at the earliest opportunity. Insofar as the two counts of trafficking in dangerous drugs the defendant stands convicted, he is therefore sentenced on each count to 18 years and 6 months’ imprisonment to run concurrently with each other.
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