HKSAR v. Yuen Wah Keung

DCCC676/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 676 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 10.29 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

2.On 10 April 2011 at 5.51 pm, a police officer intercepted and searched the defendant and inside his left front trouser pocket he found a resealable plastic bag containing 50 packets of heroin.  The quantity was 9.06 grammes.

3.He told the police that he was given the drugs for delivery to somebody else and he was to receive a monetary reward of $500.

4.Whilst in custody he excreted further packets of drugs and the total amount was brought up to 10.29 grammes of heroin. 

5.The defendant has numerous previous convictions.  He has got 41 previous convictions - 14 are drug-related and 4 of those are for trafficking in dangerous drugs.

6.The defendant is 34 years of age.  I am told that he was released from prison in April 2010.  I am told he subsequently obtained work as a transportation worker, earning some $300 per day. Unfortunately late last year he ran across some of his old friends and started to take drugs again.  His income could not feed his addiction and so he started trafficking.

7.His counsel realistically accepts that there is little that can be said in mitigation in this case other than the fact that the defendant has pleaded guilty.

8.The starting point for trafficking in this quantity of drugs is 5 years’ imprisonment.  I reduce that sentence by one-third to reflect the guilty plea entered by the defendant.  The defendant will go to prison for 40 months.