HKSAR v. Lo Chun Pang

DCCC483/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 483 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a single offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134.

2.You admitted the facts and I convicted you.  Briefly, what occurred is this.  

3.On 1 March of this year, a police constable (PW1) saw you acting furtively at the junction of Market Street and Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei.

4.As he approached you, you threw a cigarette packet, which is E1, to the ground, which he picked up.  Inside he found a plastic bag, which is E2, containing 44 suspected packets of heroin (E3).  A further search revealed another suspected packets of heroin (E4) from your right front trousers’ pocket.  You were arrested for trafficking in dangerous drugs.

5.Under caution, you said you had no money and helped others to sell “white powder” to make a living.  You had in your possession $1,178 and a mobile phone.  Interviewed later under caution you said, inter alia:

1. that you helped a friend “Ah Chi” to sell “White Powder”, and you were paid $400 a day;

2. an unknown male delivered the dangerous drugs to you;

3. that you had no means to contact either the men; and

4. that you had commenced selling at 10.15 am.

6.At 8.00 am on the 3 March 2011, a prison officer (PW2) entered your cell at Lai Chi Kok.  At 8.15 am from your excrement he located another packet of suspected heroin (P5).  He seized it and gave it to a police constable (PW3), who arrested you for possession of dangerous drugs.

7.Under caution by PW2, you stated that P5 was heroin bought by you for $140 and swallowed accidentally on arrest.  I am treating this part of the incident as irrelevant because there was no quantification of the heroin involved and I have no idea how much that was.  The reason for that has been explained by Miss Go.   

8.Later analysis revealed the following:

1. E3 was 44 packets containing 7.30 grammes of mixture containing 5.76 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

2. E4, one packet containing 0.16 grammes of mixture containing 0.12 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

3. E5, one packet containing 0.16 grammes of mixture, but we have no idea how much heroin hydrochloride, so I am ignoring that.

9.You admitted to 16 previous convictions on 13 occasions, 10 of which were drug-related.

10.In mitigation on your behalf Miss Tam could say little because there was little to be said.  Quite correctly, she said the only point in mitigation was your plea of guilty.  Supplying personal details, she told me that you are 30 years of age, unemployed, on social security of $2,900 per month, educated to Form 3 and a drug addict.  She reminded me that the tariff is 2 to 5 years’ imprisonment. 

11.I turn now to the sentence.     

12.You are a man with a history of drug-related offences.  Trafficking is always a serious matter.  The only point in your favour is that you seem to have been cooperative with the police upon arrest and you have entered a plea of guilty at the first available opportunity.

13.In all the circumstances, I take a starting point of 42 months, 3½ years’ imprisonment, reduced to 28 months for your plea of guilty. You will go to prison for 28 months.  In setting that sentence, of course I take into account that the amount of heroin hydrochloride was 5.76 grammes.