CRIMINAL CASE NO. 309 OF 2012
COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs
Ordinance.
He was driving a private car which had been kept under observation by the police. After parking the car, he alighted with a male passenger and his shoulder bag was searched by the police officers. Twenty-two plastic bags, each containing ketamine, were found. He admitted that all the 'K Chai' belonged to him and he was waiting to distribute them in Mongkok.
The market retail value of the drugs was in the region of $27,000. Upon analysis, the mixture was found to be a total of 240.62 grammes of a powder containing 179.18 grammes of ketamine.
The defendant is now aged 26. He has four previous convictions on three occasions. The last one is back in November 2007, for unlawful possession of dutiable goods. He has been sentenced to the Training Centre; he has received fines and also immediate custodial as well as suspended sentence.
By way of mitigation, it is advanced that he came from a difficult family background, that his parents separated when he was still at a relatively young age. I am also told that he had been a DHL courier worker before this incident but, unfortunately, broke his leg. So he succumbed to the temptation by older peers already in the drugs business to earn quick money.
In sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account the nature of the offence, the drug involved, its quantity and the sentencing tariff. I have also taken into account his guilty plea and all that could be and has been said by counsel on his behalf.
For trafficking in ketamine weighing between 50 to 300 grammes, the Court of Appeal has laid down a tariff of 6 to 9 years.
For the present amount of narcotics, I adopt a starting point of 8 years’ imprisonment. He is given the full one-third discount for his guilty plea and is sentenced to 64 months’ imprisonment, 5 years and 4 months.