COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The subject dangerous drug is 107.74 grammes of cocaine.
In the evening on 8 April 2014, the defendant was stopped by police officers in Mong Kok outside No 469 Shanghai Street. Upon search on the defendant, it was found inside the defendant’s jacket 8 transparent resealable plastic bags containing the cocaine.
Under caution, the defendant admitted that he was delivering the cocaine to Sham Shui Po for his friend.
The retail value of the cocaine involved was HK$179,390.
The defendant is 28 years old. He came to Hong Kong from India. He is now seeking protection under the CAT programme. He received education up to university Year 2.
According to Miss Panesar, counsel representing the defendant, the defendant once had his own trading business earning around 40,000 to 50,000 a month.
On the other hand, the defendant has been a drug addict for 6 to 7 years and he has a previous conviction of possession of dangerous drug in 2013 for which he was fined HK$1,000.
Miss Panesar said the defendant is now very remorseful.
Trafficking in dangerous drugs is a serious offence and the Court of Appeal has laid down sentencing guidelines in respect of different kinds of dangerous drugs. For trafficking in cocaine, this court should follow the tariff laid down in The Queen v Lau Tak Ming on heroin. For trafficking in a quantity of 50 to 200 grammes, the starting point on conviction is 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment.
Now, this is a tariff set down by the Court of Appeal which this court cannot depart from unless there are exceptional circumstances.
In this case, as rightly pointed out by Miss Panesar, the only mitigating factor is the defendant’s guilty plea.
Taking into consideration the quantity of cocaine in this case and the mitigation advanced by Miss Panesar on the defendant’s behalf, I adopt a starting point of 9½ years’ imprisonment. I will give the defendant the full one-third discount for his guilty plea. This will reduce the sentence to 6 years and 4 months’ imprisonment. The defendant is so sentenced.