HKSAR v. Xie Sheng Yu

DCCC32/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 32 OF 2011

----------------------

----------------------

--------------------------

Reasons for Sentence

--------------------------

1.The defendant has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 7.72 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

2.On 2 November, a team of police officers conducted an anti-dangerous drugs operation in Yau Ma Tei and, at 4.30 on that day they saw the defendant at the junction between Public Square in Reclamation Street, and they formed the view that he was acting furtively.

3.When he was searched, 40 packets of heroin were found in his possession.  He had just over $700 in his possession.  He claimed that the drugs were for his own consumption, but any left over he would sell to his friends.  He said he bought the heroin from an unknown male in Cheung Sha Street Park in Mong Kok for $6,600 earlier on in the afternoon of his arrest. He was on his way home when he was intercepted by the police.

4.The defendant admitted consuming drugs shortly before his arrest.  When he was confined at the police station a further 11 packets of drugs were recovered from his excrement.  The street value of the drugs is put at $8,716.74.

5.The defendant has two previous court appearances.  One is for possession of dangerous drugs in 2005, and for theft in 2010.  I am told that the defendant was born in China in 1978 and was educated to Secondary 2 standard.  He is married.  He married a Hong Kong resident in 2003, and they have no children.  Because of his wife’s Hong Kong residence he was able to come and live in Hong Kong in 2009.  His wife works as a clerk in Hong Kong.  He has family on the mainland whom he supports. 

6.Because of his standard of education he has found it difficult to get work in Hong Kong and has worked as a waiter and a construction worker.  His last employment in Hong Kong was in May 2010, and at that time he was earning $9,000 per month. 

7.The defendant claims, and it is not challenged, that some of the drugs in his possession were for his own use.  I will take that into account when considering the appropriate sentence. 

8.For trafficking in up to 10 grammes of heroin hydrochloride the starting point is 2 years, and it goes up to 5 years’ imprisonment.  So for trafficking in this quantity of drugs it will put the defendant at slightly in excess of 4 years’ imprisonment. 

9.I have taken into account that some of the drugs were for his own consumption, so what I propose to do is to take a starting point of 3½ years for this defendant, and reduce that by one-third to reflect the guilty plea.

10.So the defendant will go to prison for 2 years and 4 months.