Mr Luk, Victor Ying-wah, instructed by Bernard Wong & Co
HCCC 347/2012
HCCC347/2012
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 347 OF 2012
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Transcript of the Audio Recording of the Sentence in the above Case
COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug before a magistrate. They involved 0.86 kilogram of ketamine in Count 1 and 0.22 kilogram of the same in Count 2. He now appears before me for sentence.
The facts of the case are simple. Customs officers intercepted the defendant for a search on the street and found the drug in Count 1. They gained entry to his flat for another search and found the drug in Count 2. The defendant is aged 25. He was born and educated in Hong Kong up to lower secondary level. At the time of the offence he was single and unemployed. He has two previous convictions, the latter of which was also for trafficking. It took place in 2008. For that he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. In mitigation, it was realistically pointed out by counsel that the major, perhaps only, mitigating factor is his early plea. Given the total quantity of the drug involved, I will adopt an overall starting point of 14 years. To take into account the guilty plea it will be reduced by one-third to 9 years and 4 months. To achieve this composite result, I sentence the defendant to 9 years’ imprisonment for Count 1 and 5 years and 4 months for Count 2, with 5 years in Count 2 to run concurrently with the sentence in Count 1.
The facts of the case are simple. Customs officers intercepted the defendant for a search on the street and found the drug in Count 1. They gained entry to his flat for another search and found the drug in Count 2.
The defendant is aged 25. He was born and educated in Hong Kong up to lower secondary level. At the time of the offence he was single and unemployed. He has two previous convictions, the latter of which was also for trafficking. It took place in 2008. For that he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment.
In mitigation, it was realistically pointed out by counsel that the major, perhaps only, mitigating factor is his early plea.
Given the total quantity of the drug involved, I will adopt an overall starting point of 14 years. To take into account the guilty plea it will be reduced by one-third to 9 years and 4 months.
To achieve this composite result, I sentence the defendant to 9 years’ imprisonment for Count 1 and 5 years and 4 months for Count 2, with 5 years in Count 2 to run concurrently with the sentence in Count 1.