COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, and one count of driving a motor vehicle with any concentration of a specified illicit drug, contrary to section 39K of the Road Traffic Ordinance.
In the evening on 2 March 2021, the defendant was driving a private car with no rear light on. His car was then intercepted by a police officer. When the police officer approached the defendant, he was seen discarding some items onto the ground. Feeling suspicious, the police officer conducted a car search.
Inside the car, police officer found 109-gramme cocaine and HK$39,000. A rapid oral fluid test was conducted and the result indicated the presence of cocaine and ketamine. Upon further analysis, metabolite of cocaine and ketamine were found in his blood sample, namely, 0.76 µg - I do not know what µg, microgram or nanogram or whatever - /mL benzoylecgonine, right, a metabolite of cocaine.
(Court discussion re drug content)
0.76 microgram/mL of benzoylecgonine, 0.02 microgram/mL of cocaine, 0.03 microgram/mL of ecognine methyl ester, and 0.12 microgram/mL of ketamine.
The defendant is 29, single, educated up to Form 3 level. Prior to his arrest, he worked as a cook.
The defendant has a number of criminal convictions, including one dangerous driving, one driving whilst disqualified, and one using a motor vehicle on a road against third-party risk, and one possession of dangerous drug.
The notional starting point for trafficking in 109 grammes of cocaine is one of 9 years and 6 months. After a one-third discount, the sentence is therefore reduced to 6 years and 4 months.
Insofar as the 1st count is concerned, the maximum sentence is one of 3 years’ imprisonment. In the Secretary for Justice v Chan Hon Hoi [2011] 1 HKLRD 808, the Court of Appeal explained the mischief and the seriousness of the offence behind and I am not going to recite or repeat in length of that judgment. In that case, the taxi driver was given a 2½ years’ imprisonment for having 0.07 microgram/mL of ketamine in his blood when he was on bail for the same offence.
As pointed out by Mr Lee, the defendant in this case did not cause any accident nor did he drive in any erratic manner. However, in the present case, the defendant had consumed two different types of dangerous drugs, and the ketamine blood level was almost twice the amount in Chan Hon Hoi.
Further, the defendant has a very bad traffic record. He was disqualified twice in 2016 and 2018. On each occasion, he was disqualified for 2 years. It seemed traffic rules and regulations simply did not apply to him. As such, a starting point of 2 years will be adopted. Given the defendant’s plea, the sentence is therefore reduced to one of 16 months’ imprisonment.
Since the two counts have no direct relation to each other, the sentence imposed on Count 1 is ordered to run consecutively to the sentence imposed on Count 2. For the two offences the defendant stands convicted, he is therefore sentenced to 7 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
In addition, the defendant will be disqualified for driving for all classes for 5 years. Such period should not start to run until he finishes serving the present terms of sentence. It is further ordered that the defendant should not drive again after the disqualification period until he passes a test of competence to drive under the Road Traffic Ordinance. In short, you are disqualified for 5 years after you complete your sentence, and then if you wish to drive again, you have to do a retest.