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HCCC199/2011
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 199 OF 2011
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HKSAR |
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Chan Jason Tsun-yau (陳俊佑) |
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| Before: |
The Honourable Mr Justice Line |
| Date: |
23 August 2011 at 9.48 am |
| Present: |
Ms Grace Chan, Senior Public Prosecutor of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR |
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Mr Jackson Poon, instructed by Mike So, Joseph Lau & Co, for the Accused |
| Offence: |
(1) and (2) Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: I have to sentence you on two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The drug was ketamine.
You were stopped outside your home with 11 grammes. Back at your home was a further 638 grammes. The total is just half a gramme short of 650 grammes.
You were to tell the police that you had purchased the ketamine with your own money, some $40,000, in order to make a profit. I will accept that you had been a ketamine user yourself and that some small quantity - 10 to 20 per cent - of the drugs would have been for your own consumption.
You have pleaded guilty. You will have the one‑third discount that attracts, and I have two letters, one from you and one from your mother, and I take what I learn from that as further evidence beyond the plea that you are remorseful for what you have done.
You are clearly not an unintelligent young man, and it is a great shame to see you in this situation. Because you are intelligent, you will appreciate, and presumably have been told it, that my hands are, to a very great extent, tied, because we follow guidelines in sentencing drug traffickers. We do that because there are so many of these cases, it is important that there is consistency.
You may know that there are guidelines based on the nature of the drug and the weight of it, and those guidelines give a starting point in brackets of years reflecting brackets of weight for sentences after trial.
You fall at the bottom of the category that goes from 600 to 1,000 grammes, attracting a starting point of 12 to 14 years. On weight alone I would have put you at the bottom end of the bracket, bearing in mind your plea of guilty and your remorse. I am persuaded by Mr Poon to give you a small further discount to reflect the fact that some of these drugs would have been consumed by yourself. It cannot be a very big discount, for the obvious reason that if a customer had come along and wanted the lot, you would have given it to him.
It would have been an 8-year sentence, but for the element of self-use, I reduce that to 7½ years, and that is the sentence I pass on Count 2.
On Count 1 there will be a sentence of 2 years to reflect the small amount, and that will be concurrent to the sentence on Count 2.
The total is thus one of 7½ years’ imprisonment.
You express an intention in your letter to better yourself and educate yourself in prison. Let us hope you do that.
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