HKSAR v. Au Pui Yan

HCCC 80/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 80 OF 2013

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: Defendant, you appear before this court for sentence having pleaded guilty in the court below to two charges, the first being an offence of trafficking in 52.26 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride and 0.12 grammes of a solid containing methamphetamine, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, and the second an offence of possession of dangerous drugs being 0.56 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride and 0.04 grammes of a solid containing methamphetamine, contrary to section 8(1)(a) and (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.

The facts which you have agreed are quite straightforward. Quite simply, you were stopped at the Lok Ma Chau Border Control Point on the afternoon of 6 November of last year when the drugs being the subject matter of Charge 1 were found on your person, the vast majority of which being 52.26 grammes of “Ice” contained in a packet were found protruding from your vagina.

You told the Customs officer under caution that you were helping a person to transport the drugs to Hong Kong for a reward of $500. You also told them that you were to bring the drugs to Mong Kok and await a phone call. You agreed to take part in a controlled delivery which indeed took place but was unsuccessful. You were later taken back to your premises where the drugs being the subject matter of Charge 2 were found. You told the officer that the drugs and associated paraphernalia were for your own consumption.

You are 37 years of age and have a number of previous convictions which indicate drug abuse. This, however, is your first conviction for trafficking in drugs.

With regard to Charge 1, the starting point so far as sentence is concerned can be found in the case of Attorney General v Ching Kwok Hung [1991] 2 HKLR 125 and for trafficking between 10 to 70 grammes of “Ice” a starting point of between 7 to 10 years’ imprisonment is indicated. There is of course an aggravating feature here which I must take account of and that is the fact that you imported these drugs into Hong Kong for distribution.

Having said that, to your credit you have pleaded guilty to the charges and I will give you the full one-third discount in sentence to reflect that. In addition, I will also give you a further small discount in sentence to mark the fact that you actively co-operated with the authorities and willingly took part in a controlled delivery which unfortunately proved fruitless.

On Charge 1, I adopt a starting point of 8½ years’ imprisonment. I will enhance that by 6 months to take account of the aggravating feature that I have identified, coming to 9 years’ imprisonment. This will be discounted by one-third to reflect your plea, coming to 6 years’ imprisonment. I will give you a further 4 months discount to reflect your assistance to the authorities arriving at a sentence of 5 years 8 months on Charge 1.

On Charge 2 I adopt a starting point of 18 months’ imprisonment. I will discount this by one-third to reflect your plea coming to 12 months’ imprisonment on Charge 1. Due to the question of totality of sentence I order that 4 months of this sentence is to run consecutively to the sentence of 5 years 8 months on Charge 1, arriving at an overall sentence of 6 years’ imprisonment.