HKSAR v. Ma Hoi Sze

DCCC895/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 895 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 21.84 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

2.The facts admitted by the defendant state that police officers mounted an anti-narcotics operation in the vicinity of the Nam Cheong District Community Centre in Sham Shui Po on the evening of 18 July.  At about 11.29 the officers saw the defendant acting suspiciously outside the centre and they intercepted her for a search.

3.In the left front trouser pocket of the defendant’s clothing, they found the drugs, the subject of the charge.  She was found in possession of a resealable plastic bag and this contained another transparent resealable plastic bag in which the drugs were located.  When arrested, she claimed they were for her own consumption.

4.At the time of her arrest, the defendant had just over $3,700 in her possession, some Renminbi and two mobile phones. 

5.In a video recorded interview she said that the drugs were for her own consumption and that she had bought the drugs from a male with golden hair at Fa Hui Park in Mong Kok for $1,500.

6.She was living on CSSA at the time and receiving an allowance of $3,000 per month.

7.According to the police, the average prevailing market value of the drugs in question was just over $20,000.

8.The defendant has been before the court on a number of previous occasions.  She has 10 previous court appearances for 12 offences, and seven of those offences are drug related and two of them involve trafficking in dangerous drugs.  And she has been to the drug addiction treatment centre on a number of occasions.

9.The defendant is 32 years of age.  She was born in Hong Kong and educated to Secondary 4 standard.  She is divorced and has a 10-year-old son.

10.In mitigation, it was urged upon the court that some of these drugs were for her own consumption and the rest was for sharing with friends rather than the defendant being a professional vendor of drugs.

11.She has a number of drugs convictions recorded against her and she has been to the drug addiction treatment centre on a number of occasions. 

12.As counsel has rightly recognized, this offence is a serious offence and for possession of this quantity of drugs, the normal sentencing options would be between 5 and 8 years’ imprisonment, and that is for the possession of between 10 and 50 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.

13.Were the court satisfied that all the drugs were for the purpose of trafficking, the staring point would be somewhere between 5 years 9 months to 6 years imprisonment.  As I stated before, I am satisfied that some of the drugs were certainly for her own consumption, I am therefore prepared to take a starting point at the lower standard of the sentencing scale.  I take a starting point of 5 years’ imprisonment and I reduce that by one-third to reflect the guilty plea entered by the defendant.  The defendant will therefore go to prison for 40 months.