CRIMINAL CASE NO. 221 OF 2012
COURT: On 22 June 2012 the defendant, who is aged 38, pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court on a single charge of trafficking in 960 grammes of
powder containing 950 grammes of cocaine hydrochloride.
The defendant was intercepted in Sha Tin on 6 December 2011 by police as he walked home. He was carrying four transparent bags containing the cocaine which were concealed inside a sling bag. The drugs had an estimated value of $998,400.
In his home, the police found a sealing machine, together with numerous plastic bags and two sets of electronic scales. In addition, there were 4,120 grammes of sodium bicarbonate in the flat.
I am, however, not dealing with the defendant for manufacturing crack cocaine. If I were dealing with him on that basis, it would be a longer sentence.
The defendant is no stranger to the court, although it is quite right to add, as has been pointed out, that there has been nothing of this kind in his record before. He has, however, served sentences of 4½ years’ and 5 years’ imprisonment in separate decades. Those sentences were for a number of robberies, and it seems that a prison sentence is no deterrent to this defendant.
The only real mitigation is the plea of guilty which the defendant has entered early on, and for this he will receive full credit.
It seems under the guidelines in HKSAR v Abdallah Vol 2 HKLRD [2009] 437 that the starting point for this quantity of cocaine should be 21½ years’ imprisonment.
Taking into account your plea of guilty, your sentence will be 14 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.