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HCCC304/2008
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 304 OF 2008
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge D Pang |
| Date: |
13 August 2009 at 9.42 am |
| Present: |
Mr Wong Wing-sum, Vincent, SPP (DSH), of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Ms Chow Wai-choo, Monica, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Accused |
| Offence: |
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: The defendant pleaded guilty before the magistrate to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely, 245.02 grammes of a powder containing 173.36 grammes of ketamine.
In short, the defendant was found having the indexed drug in his possession when stopped by the police for a search. Under caution, he admitted to be delivering ketamine to other people for monetary gain.
The defendant is aged 26, educated up to form 1 and was unemployed at the time of the offence. He admitted to be a drug-user and someone who has triad affiliation. He has, on eight court appearances, mustered a total of 14 previous convictions, none of which is similar.
In mitigation, counsel says he committed the present offence owing to financial pressure.
As the offence was committed on 12 August 2008, the new tariff applies, meaning a starting point of 7½ years, to be discounted by a third to take into account the guilty plea.
There being no other mitigating factor, the result of that is 5 years.
Five years is the sentence I will pass on the defendant.
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