HKSAR v. Ngan Cheung Nim

DCCC49/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 49 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drugs were 6.38 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, otherwise known as “Ice.”

2.The facts admitted by the defendant are that at 8 pm on 16 November, a police team laid in ambush in Yin Hing Street, San Po Kong. At about 10.26, they saw the defendant walking furtively towards them and they intercepted him. He was searched and in his clenched fists was found the drugs, the subject of the charge.

3.The defendant admitted it was “Ice” and said it was for sharing between him and his friends and asked for a chance. Later, he made a statement at the police station in which he said he had bought the “Ice” from a man called Ah Hung at a park outside Kam Shek House in Ping Shek Estate. He had paid $3,000 for the 7 grammes of “Ice,” and he repeated that he intended to share the “Ice” with his friends.

4.I am told that the defendant has a record. He has appeared in court six times in respect of five offences. The reason for the appearances exceeding the number of offences is that he was at one stage placed on probation and breached the probation term. Four of the offences are drug-related offences. I am told that the defendant is 31 years of age. He was born in Hong Kong. He has a wife who is 21 and a son four months’ old. He was educated to Form 4. He was in employment as a warehouse worker earning some nine to ten thousand dollars per month. He is a drug abuser and spends 200 per day on that habit. He lived before his arrest with his wife, his father, who is unemployed, and his son. Looking at the defendant’s record, he has never been to prison before, and he admits on this occasion that he was trafficking but it was not for financial gain but for sharing with friends.

5.As counsel has rightly acknowledged, the starting point for persons convicted of trafficking in “Ice” for up to 10 grammes is between 3 and 7 years. Sorry, this should attract a sentence of between 5 to 7 years. I have considered very carefully the mitigation in the circumstances and I am prepared to accept the lowest starting point of 5 years and reduce that by one-third to reflect the defendant’s guilty plea. The defendant will therefore go to prison for 40 months.