HKSAR v. Yeung Wai Qi

DCCC1306/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1306 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a variety of drugs. The offence was committed on 13 September 2010, outside Ground Floor, Sunrise Villa, in Chi Kiang Street, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon.

2.The drugs trafficked in were 88 tablets and 0.33 grammes of tablet fragments containing 0.55 grammes of nimetazepam and traces of nitrazepam, a solid containing 9 miligrammes of methamphetamine, a solid containing 1.07 grammes of cocaine and 0.79 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 0.78 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

3.The defendant was spotted at 7.20 pm on 13 September whilst officers were conducting an anti-dangerous drugs operation. According to the police, the defendant was observed acting furtively outside the Ground Floor of Sunrise Villa in To Kwa Wan, Kowloon.

4.She was intercepted and the drugs, the subject of the charge, were found in her possession.  She said that they did not belong to her and that she was delivering them for a friend without remuneration.

5.Forensic examination established that the items seized from the defendant were the drugs, the subject of the charge.  The estimated value of the drugs is just in excess of $14,000.

6.The defendant has one previous matter recorded in her record.  It was for a dissimilar offence in 2004, obtaining property by deception.  There were two counts on the indictment but she was sent to a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre in respect of those two offences, which indicates that in 2004 she did have a drug problem.

7.In mitigation, I am told that the defendant, who is now 25, is single and lives with her grandfather, who is aged 89.  I am told that she is the only person to look after her grandfather.  The defendant was educated to secondary three level and was working as a part-time waitress at the time of her arrest.

8.There were four kinds of drugs involved.  The most serious of those was the quantity of “Ice” that was seized from her, 0,78 grammes of “Ice”, which attracts a sentence starting at 3 years’ imprisonment. The cocaine found was 1.07 grammes, and the starting point for offences of trafficking in that quantity of drugs start at 2 years’ imprisonment.

9.I note that although the defendant does not have any drug-related convictions, clearly she had, as I said before, a drug problem in 2004 when she was sent to the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.  At that centre, the defendant would have observed first-hand the problems experienced by people who are addicted to drugs.  She would also have ample time to reflect on the sort of sentences that are passed on people who actually traffic in drugs. 

10.Drugs are a huge problem, not only in Hong Kong but elsewhere in the world, and it is because of the harmful effects have on society that deterrent sentences are passed.

11.As counsel for the defendant has rightly conceded, the only mitigation really in this case is the defendant’s guilty plea, and for that she is entitled to the full discount of one-third. 

12.Her counsel has urged me to adopt a combined approach looking at the totality of the drugs rather than the combination of the individual sentences that the trafficking in each of the drugs would attract.

13.In my view, the appropriate starting point for this offence would be a sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment.  The defendant is entitled to a discount of one-third for her guilty plea.  She will therefore go to prison for 2 years.