Prosecution offered no evidence to (i) conspiracy to traffic dangerous drugs; and (ii) trafficking in dangerous drugs upon considering defence representations. Prosecution amended the indictment with the Accused pleading guilty to (iii) failing to surrender to custody and (iv) money laundering (of HK$ 1.9 million).

In 2011, police raided a flat in a public housing estate where a few teenagers (including Boy A and Girl B) were found to be packaging drugs. Upon arrest, Boy A initially said Girl B asked her to traffic in the drugs, whilst Girl B blamed Boy A for doing so. Upon further investigation, Boy A said that a person known as “Fat Man” (肥文) asked him to package the drugs and deposit monies into an HSBC bank account after selling them, to which he complied. The Accused was subsequently arrested since he was the account holder of the HSBC bank account. ID Parade was held where Boy A said the Accused was “70%-80% resembling” (七、八成似) Fat Man; Girl B, on the other hand, said she could not recognize the person who instructed her to traffic the drugs. The Accused was, therefore, charged with (i) conspiracy to traffic in dangerous drugs and (ii) trafficking in dangerous drugs. Whilst granted court bail and the jury trial was set to commence in March 2012, the Accused did not turn up. The Accused was found and arrested in 2024.

Representations were made to the prosecution that the evidence of the Accused’s alleged involvement was weak. A section 16 discharge application (“the Discharge Application”) under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap 221) was made before Hon Andrew Chan J. Whilst the Discharge Application was dismissed, the prosecution eventually agreed to allow the Accused to plead guilty to two additional charges: (iii) failing to surrender to custody; and (iv) money laundering of HK$ 1.9 million with the initial charges (i) and (ii) being left on the court file.

Hon Andrew Chan J adopted a 9-month starting point for (iii) and 3-year starting point for (iv). The Court was persuaded that despite having absconded for almost 12 years, a full one-third discount should be given to the Accused. The Accused was eventually sentenced to 2.5 years’ imprisonment, with the sentence of (iii) and (iv) running wholly consecutively.

Simon So appeared with Jack Hui for the Accused in the Discharge Application, making representations, and mitigation.

In Hong Kong, an Accused committed for jury trial has a right to make an application (viz the Discharge Application) before a Judge on the basis that the evidence disclosed in the documents is insufficient to establish a prima facie case against him for the offence charged.