HKSAR v. Li Man-hoi

HCCC112/2009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 112 OF 2009

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HKSAR

v

LI MAN-HOI

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

COURT:  Stand up, Li Man-hoi.  You were caught trying to smuggle 817 grammes of ketamine, in a kilogram of mixture, across the border from the mainland at Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok.  You said you were delivering it for someone else for a $2,000 payment and were taking it to Fanling.  It had a street value of $116,000. 

You pleaded guilty to the offence of trafficking in those drugs in the magistracy, and you have been committed to this court for sentence.  I know you have been advised by Miss See on your behalf that sentence for trafficking in dangerous drugs invariably follows sentencing guidelines laid down by the Court of Appeal.  This is so that all traffickers in a particular type of dangerous drugs are sentenced on the same basis.  That is fair to everybody. 

The guidelines, so far as ketamine is concerned, prescribe a term of 13 years’ imprisonment for trafficking in this quantity, but that is a term imposed after trial.  You have pleaded guilty.  You have done your best to demonstrate your remorse for what you have done, both by that plea at an early stage and by the letter which Ms See has handed up, which you have written, which reflects the mitigation that she has outlined to me.  That mitigation includes the fact that you are a man of 25 with a clear record.  Together these elements of mitigation result in a discount of one-third from that starting point, which results in a sentence of 8 years and 8 months’ imprisonment. 

I note that in that guideline case to which reference is made a little earlier, Hii Siew Cheng CAAR7/2006, both the sentences considered by the Court of Appeal involved bringing the drug over the border.  Unlike in heroin cases - for which there is a recent case of Abdallah Anwar Abbas CACC304/2008, the terms laid down in that sentencing guideline were not enhanced because of the international element of the trafficking or the cross border element of the trafficking.  In fact, of course, pretty well all drug trafficking has an international element here in Hong Kong because there is not much by way of manufacture of such drugs here in Hong Kong.  However, I do not enhance sentence in this case simply because you brought the drug from the mainland.  Hence, the term that I impose upon you is one of 8 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.