CRIMINAL CASE NO. 85 OF 2012
COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drug in question is heroin and you were caught carrying 45.42 grammes of it
across the border from China into Hong Kong. It was strapped to your body.
You have two previous convictions for trafficking in dangerous drugs so you would have understood perfectly the risks you ran and you will know about how we sentence drug traffickers in Hong Kong.
The guideline in your case for an amount of drugs between 10 and 50 grammes attracts a starting point of imprisonment of between 5 and 8 years, after trial. You earn yourself a one-third discount for your plea of guilty. I just have to fix the starting point.
I accept that you were a courier which puts you down in the bracket but, on the other hand, I have to reflect the international element; you were crossing a border doing this and whilst I am not going to increase your sentence in any dramatic way, I cannot ignore the fact that this is the third time you have stood in a dock in Hong Kong facing a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
Bearing those factors in mind and the weight of 45 grammes that also tends to put you at the top of the bracket, I shall take a starting point in your case of 8 years’ imprisonment. Thus, after the discount for the plea of guilty, the sentence I pass upon you is one of 5 years and 4 months.
There will come a time, if you are caught trafficking again, when the judge is likely to step outside the guideline and increase the sentence and you ought to be aware of that.