Yung Chik Shing v. The Queen
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CACC001143/1974 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG (APPELLATE JURISDICTION) CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1143 OF 1974 -----------------
----------------- Coram: Huggins, J. Date of Judgment: 10th January 1975. ----------------- JUDGMENT ----------------- 1. This is an appeal against a sentence of 15 months' imprisonment for possession of dangerous drugs for the purpose of unlawful trafficking. 2. I do not have the whole of the record of the lower court before me and the precise circumstances in which the Appellant was found in possession do not appear, but he was found in a street with a plastic bag containing 6.6 grammes of a mixture, of which 5.1 grammes were salts of esters of morphine, in 55 packets. That was a substantial quantity of drugs. The Appellant had previous convictions for unlawful possession of drugs and, indeed, on 1st August 1974 was conditionally discharged for a period of 12 months for such an offence. When he passed sentence the learned magistrate discharged that bond of conditional discharge. 3. In those circumstances I think a sentence of 15 months' imprisonment was lenient indeed. Moreover, in my view it would have been better had a sentence been passed for the previous offence: these bonds of conditional discharge become meaningless unless they are enforced when the conditions are broken. However, this is an appeal only against the sentence of 15 months' imprisonment. I do not propose to increase that, but the appeal is dismissed and the sentence is to run from today. 10th January 1975. Representation: |