COURT: The defendant, Cheung Kwan‑chee, has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and subsection (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
The particulars of offence are that on 20 December 2012, outside No 145 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, in Hong Kong, the defendant unlawfully trafficked in a dangerous drug, namely 1.00 kilogramme of a powder containing 0.80 kilogramme of ketamine.
The Summary of Facts, as admitted by the defendant, is as follows: at 5.39 pm on 20 December 2012, police officers intercepted the defendant outside No 145 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. He was carrying a black plastic bag. Upon search, the police found from the black plastic bag four sealed foil packages.
The police arrested the defendant for trafficking in a dangerous drug and cautioned him. Under caution, the defendant said, “Ah Sir, give me a chance. It’s just the first time I delivered ‘K Chai’ for someone. A sum of 2,000 bucks has yet to be received.” The above admission was post-recorded in a police notebook and was acknowledged by the defendant by his signing and the usual declarations.
In a subsequent video-recorded interview, under caution, the defendant admitted, inter alia, that in the present case he had agreed to help a casual acquaintance to deliver ketamine for a reward of $2,000. The defendant said, on 20 December 2012, he acted on the acquaintance’s oral instructions to collect the ketamine from a flower bed in Tai Po and to deliver the ketamine to Sham Shui Po. The defendant said that he knew what he delivered was ketamine, but he had not yet received the $2,000 reward. The defendant said all along he used his mobile phone with prepaid SIM card 5900‑3006 to contact the said acquaintance.
The four packets were later examined and confirmed to be four foil packets containing 1.00 kilogramme of a powder containing 0.80 kilogramme of ketamine. The retail value of the ketamine in question as in December 2012 was estimated to be around $121,000.
According to the sentencing guidelines for ketamine in the Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng & Anor [2008] 3 HKC 323, for trafficking in 600 to 1,000 grammes of ketamine the appropriate sentence should be 12 to 14 years’ imprisonment. The ketamine involved in this case weighed 0.80 kilogramme, meaning 800 grammes. I consider that the appropriate starting point should be 13 years.
Nothing that has been said for the defendant can amount to any meaningful mitigation regarding this serious offence. I wish to stress that financial hardship is not a ground that the court will consider. The defendant’s mother has also written to me to seek leniency but unfortunately the court cannot help in such a serious offence.
The only mitigating factor is his plea of guilty which will attract a one-third discount. I therefore give him this normal discount and pass a sentence on him of imprisonment for 8 years and 8 months.