HKSAR v. Wong Yee Fung

CACC 473/2004

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

criminal APPEAL NO. 473 OF 2004

(ON APPEAL FROM DCCC NO. 816 of 2004)

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BETWEEN

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Before : Hon Yeung JA & Yuen JA in Court

Date of Hearing : 7 April 2005

Date of Judgment : 7 April 2005

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Yeung JA (giving judgment of the Court):

1.The applicant – Wong Yee Fung appeared before Judge Day in the District Court on two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one count of possession of apparatus fit and intended for the inhalation of a dangerous drug.

2.The applicant pleaded guilty to all three charges and was sentenced to the respective terms of forty months, forty months and nine months’ imprisonment, all to run concurrently.

3.The applicant now seeks leave to appeal against sentence.

The Facts

4.On 8 June 2004, the applicant was intercepted by police officers outside her residence, namely Room 3803, Kwai Foon House, Kwai Fong Estate (the premises). Inside the premises, police officers found a mixture containing 0.71 gramme of “ice” and other drug-taking apparatus, the subject matter of the 2^nd charge and 3^rd charge.

5.The applicant then took the police officers to a letterbox on the ground floor where she kept a mixture containing 14.34 grammes of heroin, the subject matter of the 1^st charge. The applicant admitted that both the “ice” and the heroin were for sale.

6.The starting points adopted by the judge all fall within the relevant sentencing guidelines and Mr Francis Burkett, on behalf of the applicant is not taking any issue. He also accepts that the sentence imposed on the applicant was neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive.

7.However, Mr Burkett suggests that the matters disclosed in chambers merit a further reduction in sentence.

8.We agree with Mr Burkett’s view. Indeed, Ms Mary Sin, on behalf of the respondent, shares the same view.

9.In the light of the matters disclosed in chambers, we grant leave to the applicant to appeal against sentence. We treat the application as the appeal proper and allow the appeal. The sentences on the 1^st and the 2^nd charges are both reduced to 36 months’ imprisonment to run concurrently to one another and to the sentence on the 3^rd charge. The total sentence on the applicant is reduced from 40 months to 36 months.

Ms Mary Sin, SADPP of Department of Justice for the Respondent.

Mr Francis Burkett instructed by Messrs Fairbarn Catley Low & Kong for the Applicant.