COURT: The defendant, Lai Ka-kit has pleaded guilty before me to a count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely, 212.77 grammes of a solid containing 120.36 grammes of cocaine.
He has also admitted the Summary of Facts prepared by the prosecution. I will read it out:
“On 22 November 2013, police officers conducted an operation at the Public Transport Interchange, Ground Floor, Millennium City 5, 418 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon.
At around 6.12 pm on the same date, a private car with the registration no. RS7900 (“the vehicle”) was parked near the taxi stand in the Public Transport Interchange. The defendant was in the driver’s seat and was intercepted by the police.
A red paper bag was seen in the space between the right thigh of the defendant who was sitting at the driver’s seat and the car door. Inside this paper bag there was a black plastic bag containing six transparent re‑sealable plastic bags containing suspected dangerous drugs, subsequently confirmed to be 143.82 grammes of a solid containing 74.30 grammes of cocaine.
The defendant was arrested and cautioned, after which he said that, “The cocaine was bought by me from a man in Mong Kok. It cost me 60,000-something dollars. It was for my own consumption.”
A search of the vehicle produced three mobile phones.
In his video-recorded interview, the defendant said under caution, inter alia, that:
(i) The drugs found on the driver’s seat of the vehicle belonged to him and he knew that they were cocaine.
(ii) On 22 November 2013, someone with whom the defendant became acquainted in China called him without caller display at 2 pm and asked whether the defendant wanted cocaine. The defendant said he wanted six packs. The person later called the defendant again to tell him that the stuff had been placed in some bushes at the Macpherson Playground in Mong Kok.
(iii) The defendant left home and went to get the vehicle, which was parked in the car park near his home. He then drove to Mong Kok. After parking the vehicle, he went to the Macpherson Playground where he found the seized cocaine. He collected the drugs and left there HK$61,000 wrapped in newspaper.
(iv) The defendant left. He drove the vehicle to a shopping mall in Kwun Tong and intended to buy food. He was arrested when he arrived.
(v) He had been a drug addict for three years. He took ketamine and cocaine.
(vi) He was unemployed at the time of arrest. He had worked as a transportation worker for a year, earning $15,000 a month. He left the job about two months before the present incident.
(vii) The vehicle was for his own use and he had not lent it to anyone.
(viii) Regarding the three mobile phones seized from the vehicle, the white Samsung and Black Samsung were for communicating with his family and friends. The purple Samsung was the one that the person with whom he became acquainted in China called to ask the defendant about the drug transaction, and this phone had no other usage.
On 25 November 2013, police officers found from the hidden compartment below the car stereo of the centre console inside the vehicle a black plastic bag.
This black plastic bag contained three plastic bags. Inside each of these three plastic bags there were 70 plastic bags containing suspected dangerous drugs, i.e, a total of 210 plastic bags with suspected dangerous drugs, subsequently confirmed to be a total of 68.95 grammes of a solid containing 46.06 grammes of cocaine.
In his video-recorded interview, he said under caution, inter alia, that:
(i) He denied knowledge of the black plastic bag seized from the vehicle and its contents.
(ii) The vehicle belonged to him and was registered in his name. He only had one set of car keys and he had never given it to others for safekeeping. He had never lent the vehicle to anyone.
The total quantity of dangerous drugs seized in this case is 212.77 grammes of a solid containing 120.36 grammes of cocaine.
In November 2013, the dangerous drugs seized in this case had an estimated retail value of HK$302,133.
On the offence date, the defendant was the registered owner of the vehicle.
The defendant admits and accepts that he was trafficking in the dangerous drugs seized in this case.”
It was held in Attorney General v Rojas [1994] 1 HKC 342 that sentencing for trafficking in cocaine is aligned to the guidelines for trafficking in heroin contained in the case of R v Lau Tak Ming & Ors [1992] HKLR 370, and the guidelines were modified in the case of HKSAR v Abdallah Anwar Abbas [2009] 2 HKC 197.
For trafficking in a quantity of 50 to 200 grammes of cocaine, the appropriate sentence ranges from 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment. From a mathematical calculation, the quantity of cocaine involved in this case, namely, 120 grammes of cocaine, would attract a sentence of about 9 years and 10 months.
According to his antecedent statement, the defendant used to work at construction sites earning a salary of $20,000 a month up to 2011. And as from October 2011, he was able to earn a salary of $15,000 as a goods delivery worker. But, unfortunately, he became unemployed in August 2013.
And also, according to his antecedent statement, he had a habit of taking dangerous drugs, ketamine and cocaine, for three years.
His counsel has pointed out to me that he has been suffering from a congenital lump on the right side of his face since birth, and the defendant said so in his letter to the court. He says in his letter that he was being discriminated against and he could not find a job, but that differs from his antecedent statement about his employment history.
Mr Leung, his counsel, explains that that might be because, psychologically, he felt deficient.
He expresses his remorse and he accepts that he was having the dangerous drugs for the purpose of re-sale, and his counsel has frankly told me that he was not instructed that part of the drugs was for self-consumption. But, of course, that slightly differs from his antecedent statement and what he said in his video-recorded interview.
I am prepared to be lenient to this man. I hope he will turn a new leaf as he has said so in his letter to the court. For that, I will adopt a starting point of 9 years’ imprisonment, and the defendant will be given a full one-third discount for his guilty plea.
In the result, he is sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.