HKSAR v. Siu Hon Fai

On 18 September 2026, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in HKSAR v Siu Hon Fai (CACC 218/2024), allowing the appellant's appeal against sentence to the extent of reducing his total sentence from 19 years and 4 months to 17 years and 4 months' imprisonment. Ms Catherine Fung, instructed by K W Wong & Co on a pro bono basis, acted for the successful appellant.

The appellant had pleaded guilty before a magistrate on 11 December 2023 to one count of attempting to traffic in a dangerous drug (1,460 grammes of heroin hydrochloride) and one count of conspiracy to traffic in a dangerous drug. He was sentenced by Deputy High Court Judge Eric Kwok SC on 30 September 2024 to 18 years and 8 months on Count 1 and 19 years and 4 months on Count 2, to run concurrently (§1-2).

The facts concerned two inbound postal parcels from Malaysia intercepted by Customs on 12 and 13 January 2022, each concealing heroin inside toy cars, with a combined retail value of approximately HK$3.8 million (§4). The appellant had recruited young women, including a 16-year-old girl, to collect the parcels using their own personal details as consignees, then arranged to meet them after collection to take possession of the drugs (§5-10). The appellant had a lengthy criminal record spanning 1993 to 2016, including four prior drug trafficking convictions (§16).

The Court's Holding

The Court held that: (1) the revised sentencing guidelines in HKSAR v Huang Ruifang (No 3) [2025] 2 HKLRD 138 applied to the appellant, who had been sentenced after 18 September 2018 and remained within the appeal system (§22); (2) for Count 2 (conspiracy involving 2,928 grammes of heroin), the appropriate notional starting point was 24 years and 7 months, enhanced by 1 year and 6 months for the appellant's appalling criminal record to 26 years and 1 month, with a one-third guilty plea discount yielding 17 years and 4 months (§28); (3) for Count 1 (1,460 grammes of heroin), the notional starting point was 22 years and 6 months, enhanced by 1 year and 6 months to 24 years, with the discount yielding 16 years (§29); (4) Count 1 was to run concurrently with Count 2 as the trafficking was encompassed within the conspiracy (§30).

The Court reduced the total sentence from 19 years and 4 months to 17 years and 4 months' imprisonment (§31).

Why it matters

Practitioners handling drug trafficking sentences imposed before Huang Ruifang (No 3) should review whether their clients remain within the appeal system. Where the revised guidelines produce a lower arithmetical figure, the Court of Appeal will recalculate the starting point and apply the same role/culpability and criminal record enhancements, even where the respondent does not oppose the application. The Court also treated the recruitment and exploitation of a minor as a serious aggravating feature within the role and culpability assessment (§28), reinforcing the approach in HKSAR v Leung King Hung.