COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. You will have been told that the sentencing is based upon guidelines which are, in turn, based upon the nature and quantity of the drug.
The drug in your case was “Ice”, and you were caught carrying 188 grammes of it. That puts you in the bracket that runs from 70 grammes to 300 grammes, attracting a starting point of imprisonment after trial of 10 to 14 years.
You were caught carrying the drug in Mong Kok. You made immediate admissions, and you told the police that you had carried it across the border. You said you had never done it before, and your reward was to be $2,000.
Carrying it across the border is an aggravation, but I remember that you volunteered that information, and it seems to me fair that if I take that into account, I also take into account what you said at the time about it being the first time, and the reward being so modest.
You are 50 years of age. You have never been in trouble before. There is evidence that you have lived an honest life with stable employment and that you have enjoyed a long, successful marriage, but that both you and your wife have suffered ill health.
Choosing a starting point is not one that is entirely just mathematics. Mathematically, you would fall at a starting point of 12 years, in the middle of the bracket, and that in itself would be subject to some very modest aggravation for bringing the drugs across the border.
However, I will give weight to the mitigation advanced and the matters that I have already mentioned, and given that I will deal with you on the basis of the first time you have done it, and that it was for a modest reward, I shall take a starting point of 11 years. That makes an allowance, even though I have not quantified it in terms of months, for bringing the drugs across the border.
Your plea of guilty, entered at the first available opportunity, earns you a one-third discount.
Accordingly, the sentence is one of 7 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
I repeat that it is not only entirely mathematics. My intention is to place you near the bottom of the bracket by reason of the mitigation that I have heard, but you cannot be at the very bottom of it by reason of the fact that you did have 188 grammes.
The sentence is 7 years and 4 months.