CRIMINAL CASE NO. 232 OF 2012
COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134.
The defendant was intercepted by police whilst descending a flight of stairs. He was found to be holding two packets of drugs in his hand. He admitted that he took the drugs from a unit in that building and he helped to deliver the drugs.
The unit was searched, and eight packets of ketamine and 27 small packets of cocaine were found. There were other paraphernalia associated with trafficking, including two electronic scales and a large number of empty plastic bags and a plastic bag sealing machine.
Upon analysis, the drugs found on his person were 0.48 kilogramme of a powder containing 0.25 kilogramme of ketamine.
The drugs seized in the premises were 1,271.21 grammes of a powder containing 522.83 grammes of ketamine, and 7.72 grammes of a solid containing 5.93 grammes of cocaine.
The total retail value of the drugs was around HK$110,000.
The defendant is aged 17. He has one SP discretion back in 2011, and for the purpose of today’s sentencing, I shall treat him as a person of clear record.
By way of mitigation, I am told that his mother, a mental patient, was the subject of domestic abuse, and after divorce, had to take care of her children herself. I was told that he committed the present offence because of financial difficulty and he wished quick money.
In sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account his timely guilty plea, the nature of the present offence, the kinds of drugs involved, the sentencing tariffs, mitigation advanced by counsel and those contained in the mitigation letters submitted to the court today. I also bear in mind his clear record.
However, when it comes to trafficking in dangerous drugs offences, unblemished record and family circumstances play little or no part and do not constitute any extraneous circumstances which call for discounts extra to that attracted by a guilty plea.
The total amount of ketamine involved in the two charges in the present case is 772.83 grammes. For trafficking in ketamine weighing between 600 to 1,000 grammes, a starting point of 12 to 14 years is to be adopted. The amount of cocaine added onto the weight of narcotics does not take the starting point out of the range of that bracket.
Taking into account the amount of all the drugs involved in the present case, I adopt a starting point of 13 years. I shall give the defendant a full one-third discount for his guilty plea, and he is sentenced to 8 years and 8 months, and I shall apportion as follows:
Charge 1, 4 years;
Charge 2, 8 years and 8 months, to run concurrently.