HKSAR v. Yiu Yau Chuk

DCCC1219/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1219 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant enters a plea of guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, preferred against him under section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134.

Facts

2.The facts to which the defendant agrees are as follows.

3.On the day of the offence, a team of police officers arrived at Room 208 of Windsor Palace Hotel, Buckingham Building, Nathan Road, Kowloon.  They knocked and the defendant answered the door.  Inside the room a female rushed to the bathroom.  A police officer opened the bathroom door and found two females there, but nothing suspicious was found on them.

4.The police conducted a body search on the defendant and in his trousers’ pocket were found four transparent resealable plastic bags, three of which contained a total of 25 tiny packets of suspected dangerous drugs, and the fourth one contained a quantity of suspected dangerous drugs.  Further, an electronic scale, a pile of transparent plastic bags, and cash in the sum of $1,180 were found inside the defendant’s shoulder bag.

5.Contents of the four transparent resealable plastic bags were subsequently sent to the Government Laboratory for analysis and were confirmed to be 10.81 grammes of a solid with 8.52 grammes of cocaine in it.

Conviction

6.The court finds the defendant guilty as charged.  He has had four criminal records before his current conviction, one of which is drug-related.

Mitigation

7.In mitigation, the defence puts forward the following matters for the court’s consideration.

8.The defence has written to the prosecution, giving early indication that he would plead guilty to the offence in order to express remorse and to save court’s time.  His sense of remorse is re-affirmed by his pleading guilty before the court.

9.The defendant is now 47 years of age.  Married with two young offspring, namely, a son of 14 and a daughter of 9, he has been the sole breadwinner of the family all along, his wife having been suffering from depression for a long time.

10.The defendant has for some 12 years been gainfully employed in night clubs. In recent times business has gone bad as more and more customers chose to spend across the border rather than in Hong Kong.  The defendant faced difficulties as a manager of a night club, so he decided to invest in a wine bar in early 2011, which investment failed resulting in losses to him.

11.Counsel submits that it was the financial pressure that the defendant was under, coupled with the need to look after his wife in distress and his young offspring, that had led the defendant to commit the offence in this case.

12.The defendant has written a letter to court to express remorse and to assure the court he is determined to turn over a new leaf.

13.Finally, counsel points out that despite her health problems, the defendant’s wife has attended court on every occasion when the defendant’s case was heard to show her support for the defendant.

14.The defence asks the court to be as lenient as possible in sentencing the defendant.

Discussion

15.Drug abuse poses a constant threat to the well-being of the society;  no one should be in any doubt about this. It ruins families, and breeds crimes, ad hoc and organised.  It wrecks a person’s life, sometimes beyond hope and repair.

16.Even those who have successfully fought and overcome their addiction, which is itself a most painful process, their personalities and emotional make-up can be marred for life.  Employment opportunities for them are very often limited; and prospects of their reintegration into the society are grim.

17.Drug addicts, and ex-addicts alike, would often find themselves living in dire poverty over sustained periods and a life without self-esteem.  In terms of social costs and loss, the society suffers beyond measure.

18.Drug traffickers are responsible for the spread of this vice habit.  The duty is upon the court is play its part in the fight against the drug trade, to see to it that no one would be in any doubt that the society does not tolerate criminal conduct involving drug deals.

19.Cocaine has been identified to be a hard drug, and the sentence tariff referred to in R v Lau Tak Ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370 for trafficking in heroin is applicable to cases of trafficking in cocaine (see Attorney General v Pedro Nel Rojas [1994] 1 HKC 342).  For the amount of drugs in which the defendant has trafficked in this case, a starting point of four years would be appropriate.

20.The defendant has had four criminal records prior to his conviction.  Apart from the defendant’s guilty plea, none of his personal and family circumstances would warrant any further reduction in sentence.  Financial hardship is no mitigation, particularly in serious offences like trafficking in dangerous drugs.

Conclusion

21.In the result, the appropriate starting point is one of four years’ imprisonment, which is reduced by one-third to reflect the defendant’s guilty plea to one of two years and eight months’ imprisonment.

Order

22.The defendant is sentenced to serve a period of imprisonment of two years and eight months.