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HCCC250/2010
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 250 OF 2010
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Before:
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The Honourable Mr Justice Line
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Date:
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20 September 2010 9.51 am
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Present:
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Mr Edward Joshua Brook, Senior Public Prosecutor, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Ms Corinne Marie D’Almada Remedios, instructed by C C Lee & Co., assigned by Director of Legal Aid, for the Accused
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Offence:
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Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物)
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: It will have been explained to you that sentences in drug trafficking cases are based upon guidelines and that the guidelines themselves are based on the nature of the drug and the quantity of it. Basically the guidelines produce the sentence, subject to a small amount of discretion, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
There are no exceptional circumstances in your case. You were a man of basically hitherto good character with one blemish on your record when you were only 16 which I ignore for the purposes of this sentence. A man who fell prey to the temptation to make what you thought was some easy money and it is all too familiar a tale.
Your case falls into the bracket that goes from 600 grammes to a 1,000 grammes attracting a starting point after trial of 12 to 14 years’ imprisonment. Mathematically, 822 grammes is slightly over halfway up the bracket which will attract a starting point of 13 years. You will appreciate the discretion I have is limited but I take into account 20 years with no trouble, the fact that you were a courier and not the owner of the drugs, and the fact that you made an immediate plea of guilty in the magistrate’s court.
Accordingly, without the aggravation of bringing it across the border, which exists, I would have taken a starting point of about 12½ years. That has to be increased for the aggravation. In the circumstances, I shall make that increase a modest one and I shall impose a sentence of 8 years and 8 months, the aggravation costing you an extra 4 months.
I do that because I do place significant reliance on the timing of your plea. Our system gives the same third to the man that pleads guilty like you at the outset or the man that waits until a jury is waiting at the court door. And I deliberately kept that aggravation down because I do take the point on board that your counsel makes that this was bringing something just across not an international border any more and it did not involve moving the drugs around the world. And perhaps it is right to note that this is the sort of drug that can be made in fact anyway, it does not have to be grown in any particular location.
The overall sentence is one 8 years and 8 months.
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