HKSAR v. Yiu Wing Hong
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HCCC 343/2013 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO 343 OF 2013 -----------------
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--------------------------------- Transcript of the Audio Recording --------------------------------- COURT: I have to sentence you for one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The drug was methamphetamine hydrochloride, “Ice”, and you possessed 23.48 grammes of it. You were found in possession of the drugs in your home. The police had gone there, where other people also shared the premises, looking for pornographic material, but they came across your drugs. You are a drug addict. You have been before the courts for the possession of dangerous drugs since 1994; so 20 years of addiction. You say you have been addicted to “Ice” since 2006. Between 1994 and 2011 you have six convictions spread over that time for the possession of dangerous drugs. So 20 years an addict, but no convictions in that time for trafficking. In the summary of facts, it relates this, that when you were arrested you said this:
That gives rise to two points that can be taken in your favour, namely that this was not commercial trafficking, but social trafficking, and that you yourself would have consumed some of the “Ice”. Given your history of addiction, the place where the drugs were found, the fact that the drugs were found along with items designed for the consumption of the “Ice”, I judge those points to be good points. You will well understand that sentencing for drug trafficking is conducted on the basis of guidelines and that the guideline in your case for “Ice” throws up a bracket of 10 to 70 grammes, attracting a starting point of imprisonment after trial of 7 to 10 years. If one did it entirely mathematically, the starting point would be around 7 years and 9 months. However, I will reflect the fact that, despite being a drug addict, this is your first trafficking at the age of 39, that it was social and not commercial and that you would have consumed some of the drugs yourself. Without those second and third points I have just mentioned, I would have taken a starting point probably of about 7 and a half years. I will reduce the starting point by 6 months to reflect the social trafficking and I will reduce it by a further 6 months to reflect the self-consumption. That gives a starting point of 6 and a half years, which after your discount of one-third for the plea of guilty, would result in a sentence of 4 years and 4 months. It is not all mathematical. The maths I have indicated gets me there, but I had arrived there by considering your case as a whole and I judge that a sentence of 4 years and 4 months on the facts available to me is the right one in your case. |