HKSAR v. Pang Sze Yuen Yoki
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HCCC91/2009 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO. 91 OF 2009 -----------------
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------------------------------------------------------------ Transcript of the Audio Recording ------------------------------------------------------------ COURT: Pang Sze-yuen, you have pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drugs involved were methamphetamine hydrochloride. The 1st count relates to a package containing 6.47 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 6.41 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. You were about to deliver those drugs to an undercover police officer in Jordan Road on the evening of 18 November 2008 in return for $3,400. The officer had earlier ordered the drugs from a man over the telephone. It appears that you were the person who was sent to deliver the drugs to the undercover officer. You claimed to the police that you were being paid $300 a day as wages for delivering drugs for this man. You later volunteered to take the police officers to your home in a building in Shanghai Street, where the drugs that are the subject of the 2nd count were found. The quantity of drugs involved was 112.19 grammes of crystalline solid containing 107.75 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. The drugs were in nine ziplock bags and in a paper handkerchief. Inside your home there was also weighing and packaging equipment. You claimed that the drugs had been placed there by your boss and that when he received orders for drugs, he would instruct you as to the weight of drugs you were to package, and you would then be instructed to deliver the drugs to customers. The estimated retail value of the drugs found on you in the street and in your home was just under $82,000. It is tragic that somebody of previous good character, who clearly was hardworking and holding responsible jobs, should commit these offences. I am told that it was because you needed money to feed your own addiction to methamphetamine hydrochloride. That, however, does not provide any excuse for what you did. Indeed, you can have been in no doubt when you committed these offences that very serious consequences would follow if you were caught. Nevertheless, you went ahead and took the risk. I bear in mind that you were not the mastermind behind this drug trafficking activity. You were, however, playing a key role in the packaging and delivery of these drugs. I also bear in mind that insofar as the 2nd charge is concerned, you voluntarily led the police to your home, where the drugs were found. In my view, the appropriate starting point in respect of the drugs that are the subject of the 1st count is 4 years’ imprisonment. Insofar as the drugs which are the subject of Count 2 are concerned, the appropriate starting point is, in my view, 11 years’ imprisonment. You pleaded guilty to these charges, which I take as an expression of remorse for your conduct. You are accordingly entitled to the usual discount of one-third. Insofar as the 2nd count is concerned, I am prepared to grant a small extra discount to reflect the fact that you led the police to your home, where the drugs were found. On Count 1, I sentence you to 2 years 8 months’ imprisonment. On Count 2, I sentence you to 7 years’ imprisonment, those sentences to run concurrently, which means that you are sentenced to a total sentence of 7 years. |