COURT: The defendant was charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely, 2,942 grammes of a solid containing 2,496 grammes of ketamine.
The facts are that on 9 March 2021, there was a parcel from Belgium declaring that it was a wall clock, but inside were found the drugs which is the subject matter of the charge. And the consignee of the subject parcel was the defendant. And eventually, the defendant was contacted and a controlled delivery operation was mounted and the defendant attended the post office on 12 March to collect the parcel. And after he collected the parcel, he left the post office with it and he was then stopped and arrested and cautioned.
Under caution, the defendant said that he was told to collect the parcel by an unknown person who had sent him the airway bill number. But then he later said that he received the airway bill number via WhatsApp but had forgotten the WhatsApp number.
And subsequently, he was interviewed in the video-recorded interview and the interview was also about some of the WhatsApp text and voice messages which was recovered from the defendant’s mobile telephone. And the defendant admitted that he was supposed to collect the parcel for a reward of $2,000.
The estimated street value of the ketamine is just slightly over $1.6 million.
The defendant is now, I think, 21 or 22 years old. He has a clear record and he informed the police he was a transportation worker. In mitigation, Mr Wong has made submissions that the defendant in fact, on the date of the offence, was only 19½ years old and lived with his mother in a public housing estate.
And he went to school, educated up to Form 1 level. And after leaving school, worked as a hairstyle assistant, and then worked as a transportation worker. But at the time of his arrest, he was unemployed. And in mitigation, Mr Wong submitted that he was not a bad person but he was led astray by others and that he had donated to charity before and he is deeply remorseful for what he has done.
The mitigation letters were also submitted today by Mr Wong from his mother and grandmother, testifying to the fact that he is a good person and also a letter from the Methodist Social Service, who was looking after him after he was in custody, that he is not of a bad character.
Mr Wong also stressed the fact that he has good family support and they are all in court to support him. He is a very lucky young man. His family has not given up on him and hopefully this will be an impetus for him to better himself while in prison, to learn a trade, so that when he leaves gaol he can be of more constructive assistance to his family and to society.
Trafficking in dangerous drugs is a very serious offence no matter what the reason is. Because it does not only harm the trafficker, it harms the society of Hong Kong. Many families are destroyed by drugs, whether the father taking drugs or the son taking drugs. And that is why the courts and the discipline services in Hong Kong are so concerned to try and stamp out this trafficking of dangerous drugs. Unfortunately, the more we try, the more these evil traffickers use people who are willing, for a little money, to help them traffic in dangerous drugs.
As Mr Wong very correctly identified, the sentencing for ketamine has been laid down in the case of Hii Siew Cheng, that over 1,000 grammes would merit 14 years’ imprisonment and upwards after trial.
In this case, the total amount of ketamine is 2,496 grammes and therefore as the cases that have been referred to by Mr Wong suggests, the appropriate starting point would be 19 years after trial.
Also, the sentence has to be enhanced because of the international element. This parcel was sent from overseas. And as Mr Wong correctly pointed out, in the case of Chan Ka Yiu in 2018, the enhancement would be a period of 21 months. So adding the 19 years to the 21 months will make it a total of 249 months.
I do accept the mitigation that the defendant is very remorseful. So he is entitled to the one-third discount.
So the sentence would be one of 13 years and 10 months.