HKSAR v. Lau Ka Sen

DCCC798/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 798 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant in this case has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 8.67 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

2.The facts of the case were that on 13 June 2012, a party of plainclothes police officers were carrying out an anti‑drugs operation in the area of Oi Lok House on the Yau Oi Estate in Tuen Mun in the New Territories.  They saw the defendant at about 4.55 pm leaving Room 1540 of Oi Lok House, holding a cigarette box and a purse in her right hand and a mobile phone in her left hand.  She was intercepted for inquiry. 

3.The officers searched the premises which she had left and inside there they found an electronic scale on a computer desk in the living room and a bundle of 216 empty transparent resealable plastic bags on a chair beside the computer desk.  The cigarette box was found to contain the dangerous drugs, the subject of the charge.

4.The Defendant maintained, when arrested for trafficking in dangerous drugs, that the drugs were for her own consumption and she maintained that view in her video-recorded interview.  She told the police that she was taking the drugs to somewhere outside the premises as she felt it would be safer.  She said that at the time she was working as a saleslady, earning an income of seven to eight thousand dollars per month.  She said that the premises in which she was seen leaving were owned by her boyfriend and her boyfriend was in prison.  The defendant was in possession of just over $1,300 when she was arrested, and the value of the drugs in question was $6,398.

5.The defendant has been before the court previously.  On 11 June in 2009 for an offence of possession of dangerous drugs, she was placed on probation for a period of 12 months. 

6.I adjourned the case on the last occasion so that I could have the advantage of a report from the Commissioner of Correctional Services as regards the defendant’s suitability for detention in a training centre. 

7.I now have that report and the Commissioner for Correctional Services has said that she is suitable for admission.  The report states that the defendant was born the elder between two siblings in a working-class family.  It describes her academic performance as being barely acceptable.  Whilst in her primary school years she behaved satisfactorily, when she graduated to secondary school, her conduct deteriorated.  In 2004, she was made the subject of a care protection order, having been found missing from home for two days.  It was arranged for her to study Form 3 at a boarding school in 2006 and although the defendant managed to conform to the curfew order, she still sought fun outside with her peers after school.

8.The defendant started taking drugs in 2007 and was later arrested in January 2009 and placed on probation.  While she managed to stay away from dangerous drugs during her probation period, she relapsed after its expiration and started taking methamphetamine hydrochloride or “Ice” as it is known.  She started a relationship with a drug-taking boyfriend and moved away from home to live with him, and it was under the inducement of the boyfriend that she continued to take drugs.

9.The parents of the defendant were interviewed for social inquiry and notwithstanding the very difficult time they must have had bringing up the defendant, they expressed their deep concern about the defendant’s situation.  They understood that the defendant had made a mistake as regards her previous misdeeds, and notwithstanding that she has let them down many times before, they now believe that she has learnt a lesson and will change her lifestyle.  They asked for a lenient sentence.  I have a letter from the parents to endorse that position, asking for leniency.

10.You are a very fortunate young lady.  For several years, you caused your parents extreme anxiety and yet they are still prepared to stand by you.  Because of this attitude and the report, I am prepared today not to send you to prison which you thoroughly deserve.  I am going to impose a training centre order. 

11.This is your last chance.  If you carry on your lifestyle, you will end up going into prison for longer and longer periods of time, and your parents will eventually lose patience with you, and you will be left to mix with the sort of people you were mixing with before your arrest, a boyfriend who is a drug addict.  This is your last chance.  Make the most of it.