A A
DCCC783/2011
B IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE B
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 783 OF 2011
C C
----------------------
D D
HKSAR
E v. E
Chik Ka-fai
F F
----------------------
G G
Before: H H Judge S. D’Almada Remedios
Date: 14 October 2011 at 10.24 am
H Present: Miss Lilly Wong, PP of the Department of Justice, for H
HKSAR
Mr Chau Hing-ping, instructed by Simon Ho & Co.,
I assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the I
Defendant
J Offence: (1) Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) J
(2) Resisting a police officer in execution of duty (抗
拒在執行職務的警務人員)
K K
---------------------
L L
Reasons for Sentence
M --------------------- M
N N
1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to two charges
before this court. The 1st charge is trafficking in a dangerous
O O
drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs
P Ordinance. The 2nd charge is a charge of resisting a police P
officer in the execution of his duty, contrary to section 63 of
Q the Police Force Ordinance. Both offences were committed on 29 Q
April 2011 outside No. 256 Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok.
R R
2. On 29 April, police officers were mounting an anti-
S S
dangerous drug operation at Sai Yeung Choi Street South. At
T about 11.18 pm, they saw you acting furtively and intercepted T
you. A police officer revealed his police identity. At that
U time you were holding in your hand a plastic bag within which U
CRT33/14.10.2011/LT 1 DCCC783/2011/Sentence
V V
A A
was a smaller plastic bag of drugs in the amount of 13.89
grammes of a mixture containing 10.45 grammes of heroin
B B
hydrochloride.
C C
3. The police officer arrested you for trafficking in a
D dangerous drug. At that moment, you suddenly used both of your D
hands to push the officer’s hands away. The officer immediately
E E
held your shoulder and issued you with a verbal warning to stop
resisting arrest. However, you continued to struggle and tried
F F
to flee. That struggle lasted for about 10 seconds, whereupon
G you lost your balance and fell on the ground. The officer then G
pressed you on the ground. Other police officers came and
H eventually subdued you. You were then also arrested for H
resisting arrest.
I I
4. You incurred some slight injuries on your lip and face
J J
as a result of the struggle.
K K
5. It is an admitted fact that the drugs in question
L amounted to a street value of $9,070. L
M 6. I am informed by your counsel Mr Chau Hing-ping in M
mitigation today that you had received these drugs from a man
N N
called Ah Woo and were to deliver them to a person called Ah
Wah. As a result, you have admitted to trafficking in dangerous
O O
drugs.
P P
7. I have taken into account the mitigation put forward
Q by your counsel Mr Chau in considering the appropriate sentence Q
to be passed upon you.
R R
8. You are aged 54 and have four previous convictions.
S S
You have one similar related drugs which is for an offence of
T possession of dangerous drugs in 2001. For that offence you were T
fined $2,000. You have been a drug addict for many years. You
U were unemployed and depended on CSSA of $1,800 a month. U
CRT33/14.10.2011/LT 2 DCCC783/2011/Sentence
V V
A A
9. At the material time you lived with your wife in Sai
B B
Yeung Choi Street. As a result of your meagre income from CSSA
and the fact that you spent about $100 a day for drugs, you
C C
could not get enough money to satisfy your drug habit. For that
D reason you agreed to take the drugs from Ah Woo to give to Ah D
Wah. Mr Chau has informed me that the reward for that was that
E you would be given about 2 grammes from the drugs you were to E
deliver.
F F
10. Mr Chau has quite rightly said the tariffs for
G G
trafficking in heroin are clearly laid down and he asks me to
give some deduction for 2 grammes from the starting point.
H H
I 11. The prosecution do not accept that 2 grammes were for I
your own consumption. I accept the submissions made by Miss
J Lilly Wong for the Prosecution. At the time you were interviewed J
you said you were unaware of the quantity of the drugs. The
K K
drugs were further contained all in one single small bag. It is
difficult to see how you could have given 2 grammes to yourself
L L
when you were about to deliver the drugs to Ah Wah. Furthermore,
M I accept it would have been quite a different scenario if the 2 M
grammes of drugs were in another separate bag, this might then
N be acceptable that the 2 grammes of drugs were as reward for the N
delivery and to satisfy your consumption. In the circumstances
O O
of this particular case there would be little or no deduction at
all on the quantity of drugs to which you have pleaded guilty to
P P
trafficking given the above matters.
Q Q
12. In any event, I do not accept that there was 2 grammes
R deduction for your own consumption for the reasons stated above R
and also because that quantity would be almost 20 per cent of
S S
the total amount of drugs, which had a value of about $1,306.
T 13. In the circumstances of this case I shall take the T
lowest starting point as possible in view of the quantity of
U U
drugs that you had trafficked in.
CRT33/14.10.2011/LT 3 DCCC783/2011/Sentence
V V
A A
14. Defendant, you trafficked in 10.45 grammes of heroin
B B
hydrochloride. Following the guidelines in Lau Tak Ming, I take
C a starting point of 5 years’ imprisonment. However, giving you C
full credit for your plea of guilty, I deduct that term by one-
D third and sentence you to 3 years and 4 months’ imprisonment. D
E E
15. In respect of the resisting arrest charge, the officer
was not injured and the resisting was not of too serious a
F F
nature. In those circumstances, I sentence you to 14 days’
G imprisonment. G
H 16. Taking into account the principle of totality, I H
consider that this term should run concurrent to the trafficking
I I
in dangerous drugs term and therefore the total term is 3 years
4 months’ imprisonment.
J J
K K
L L
M M
N (S. D’Almada Remedios) N
District Judge
O O
P P
Q Q
R R
S S
T T
U U
CRT33/14.10.2011/LT 4 DCCC783/2011/Sentence
V V