CRIMINAL CASE NO. 311 OF 2008
COURT: Wong Wai-keung, stand up.
Wong Wai-keung, trafficking in dangerous drugs is rightly considered a very serious offence and is one for which the law provides very heavy penalties. The highest penalty, in fact, is life imprisonment. Those heavy penalties are imposed on all who engage in this sordid trade, even on low grade or low-level couriers like yourself.
Your counsel, Mr Bullet, will have told you already that there are clear guidelines as to how judges should sentence people who traffic in dangerous drugs. He will have also told you that judges are expected to stick to those guidelines unless there are good reasons not to do so. I have to tell you that there are no good reasons in your case why I should or could depart from those guidelines.
The fact that you engaged in trafficking in this amount of cocaine in order to gain money to fund your sister’s medical expenses is not a mitigating factor. Many people in Hong Kong are unfortunate in having sick relatives, and yet the vast majority of them would never dream of engaging in crime in order to fund payment of their relatives’ medical expenses.
I note that you have a minor criminal record. But I also note that you have been able to keep out of trouble since the year 2000, which to a small extent goes to your credit.
Your real mitigation, however, is your early and realistic plea of guilty. To some extent it is an indication of remorse. It is certainly an acceptance of the inevitable. By pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity - in this case when it was called on before the magistrate - you have saved the Police Force and the judiciary time, trouble and expense. You will receive proper recognition for your early plea of guilty.
I have to tell you that following the guidelines I have already spoken about, had you taken this case to trial, had you pleaded not guilty, and had a jury, after hearing the evidence, returned a verdict of guilty against you, the most lenient sentence I could have imposed on you would have been a sentence of 8 years imprisonment. Because of your plea of guilty, I am permitted to make a significant reduction in that sentence and am therefore reducing it by one-third.
This means that for your offence you will go to prison for 5 years and 4 months.