COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to the following charges before a magistrate. He comes before me for sentence: Count 1 and Count 2, possession; Count 3, trafficking. They involve 0.28 of a gramme, 1.85 grammes and 41.25 grammes of "Ice" by pure narcotic content.
The defendant was stopped on the street in front of a residential building. He dropped the first quantity of 0.28 of a gramme of "Ice", then wrapped in a folded banknote, and tried to run away. He failed, was arrested, and admitted that the drug was for his own consumption.
The defendant was escorted home in the same building. A more thorough search revealed that he had on his person the second quantity of "Ice", 1.85 grammes in all. That was in five small plastic bags hidden inside one of his socks. Again, he explained that the drug was for his own consumption. On him was also cash HK$8,820 and 85 renminbi.
A search of the flat revealed a third quantity; that is the 41.25 grammes of "Ice" in 27 resealable plastic bags. Other findings include cash HK$55,000, one electronic scale, one bundle of plastic bags and an assortment of "Ice"-taking paraphernalia. Under caution, the defendant stated that the drug was partly for self-consumption and partly for selling to others.
The defendant is aged 31. He was born in Guangzhou. He came to Hong Kong in 1988. With only a form 1 education, much of his adult life was spent in blue-collar work. He is single. He was unemployed and was living with his family at the time of the offence.
He has four previous convictions, two of which were for possession.
In mitigation, counsel realistically advances that his early plea is the only real mitigating factor in this case.
For Count 1, I will adopt a starting point of 9 months to be reduced, by the guilty plea, to 6 months.
For Count 2, the starting point will be one of 12 months. However, the drug contained in five separate small plastic bags drastically increased the risk of trafficking. This necessitates an enhancement of 3 months to 15 months, then to be reduced by the guilty plea to a term of 10 months.
For Count 3, the proper starting point is one of 8½ years. It will be reduced by the guilty plea to 5 years and 8 months.
There will be no other reduction because although I accept that part of this lot of drugs was for self-consumption, the overwhelming bulk of it, I am satisfied, was for trafficking. The fact that the defendant was unemployed is of key importance. It does not sit comfortably with (a) the defendant being able to feed his addiction, and (b) the large amount of cash found on him and in the flat. The defendant was clearly selling at some scale to be able to amass the kind of capital in question, while still having that sizeable quantity of 41.25 grammes of "Ice" in the ready in 27 plastic bags.
Whatever he set aside for his own use would be like the fruit that a fruit seller keeps for his family. It could only be insignificant in the general scheme of things. Everything in the case smells of such an arrangement.
As regards the composite sentence, I am persuaded that all the drugs came from the same pool so completely concurrent terms would be sufficient to meet the requirements of justice in this case.
The defendant will go to prison for a total of 5 years and 8 months.