COURT: The defendant pleads guilty to two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drug contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134.
She was stopped and searched by police officers and was found to be in possession of a cigarette packet containing a bag of drugs, an electronic scale and seven other plastic bags of drugs, together with 16 resealable plastic bags. Under caution, she claimed that the drugs were for her own consumption. A further search at her residence later revealed four plastic bags of drugs and 56 foil packs containing 460 tablets.
Upon analysis it was found that the bag carried by the defendant contained a total of 48.59 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 47.19 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride and the drugs in her premises contained 81.92 grammes of a mixture containing 79.23 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride. The 560 tablets contained 2.57 grammes of nimetazepam. The retail value of all the drugs was around HK$111,000.
The defendant has one previous conviction back in 2004 for causing wasteful employment of police for which she was fined with costs, but for the purpose of sentencing today, I will treat her as a person of a clear record.
The defendant is now aged 34. I was told that she has been an addict for a long time and she has been a good mother to her daughter, who is now aged nine. She has no previous conviction relevant to this matter and she has always been gainfully employed. At the time of the arrest she was pregnant, but that pregnancy was terminated with the child stillborn. Counsel submits that some part of the drugs were for her own consumption, but concedes that such is not a significant amount. Counsel asks the court to exercise leniency when sentencing this defendant.
In sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account her guilty plea, the nature of the drugs, the relevant sentencing tariff and mitigation put forward by counsel.
The total amount of narcotics in the present case is 126.42 grammes, which falls within the bracket of 70 to 300 grammes of “ice” in Ching Kwok Hung and attracts a starting point ranging from 10 to 14 years. I consider the amount of nimetazepam in this case has no effect on the overall starting point of the ice.
I adopt an overall starting point of 11 years’ imprisonment. I shall give her the full one-third discount for her guilty plea and she is sentenced to 88 months apportioned into the two charges as follows:
Charge 1, 5 years and 3 months; charge 2, 7 years and 4 months. To run concurrently.