HKSAR v. Chung Wai Ming

DCCC951/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 951 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant has pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs. In both cases the drug concerned is methamphetamine hydrochloride, otherwise known as “Ice”.

2.Both offences were committed on the same day in the Wah Fu Estate.  In the 1st charge, the amount of drugs concerned was 1.32 grammes of “Ice”, and in the 2nd 2.35 grammes of “Ice”.  

3.The facts admitted by the defendant state that on the afternoon of 1 June, police officers were conducting an operation on the 22nd floor of Wah Hing House on the Wah Fu Estate in Aberdeen.  The defendant was seen leaving his flat.  He was intercepted and in a bag which was found in his right back pocket they found the drugs the subject of the 1st charge.   

4.The defendant claimed that the drugs were for his own consumption.  The police officers then went to the defendant’s flat for a search and the drugs the subject of the 2nd charge were found inside his flat.  Also found was some adhesive tape, a plastic spoon, an electronic scale, and one resealable plastic bag which contained a further 30 resealable plastic bags.  The defendant claimed that some of the drugs were for his own consumption but he admitted some were for sale to others. 

5.He said he had bought the drugs seized from him for $700, and from the flat for $2,000 on 30 May from a man in Mongkok.  The police said that the street value of the drugs is about $2,655.   

6.The defendant has been before the court for 17 previous offences.  Most of them are drug-related offences, but for possession rather than for trafficking.  In fact, this is his first trafficking conviction.   

7.He was last before the court in May of last year when for assaulting a police officer and possession of dangerous drugs he was sent to prison for two months.

8.I am told in mitigation that the defendant is 26 years of age.  He is single.  His parents separated when he was 7.  He lives with his mother who is now aged 50, and his younger brother who is aged 19.  He has a 22 year old sister who lives with his father.    

9.I am told quite frankly by his counsel that at school he was not a success and he idled most of his time with people that he should not have been mixing with.   

10.I am told that he wastes most of his days and goes out at night with his friends who have got similar interests in taking drugs and generally looking for entertainment.

11.His counsel has acknowledged the tariff for trafficking in this quantity of drugs is in the 3 to 7 years’ imprisonment band.

12.The amount of drugs in this case is just over 3.8 grammes, which would put the sentence at about 3½ to 4 years’ imprisonment. 

13.I accept what he says in mitigation that part of the drugs were for his own consumption.  I propose therefore to take a starting point of 3 years’ imprisonment, and I reduce that by one-third to reflect the guilty plea. 

14.The defendant will go into prison for 2 years on each of the offences, the sentences to run concurrently.