HKSAR v. CHEUNG YIU SAN

DCCC1221/2008

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1221 OF 2008

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Reasons for Sentence

1.  The defendant has pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs.  The particulars of the offence are that on 6 October 2008, at the Ground Floor of No. 20 Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, he trafficked in 45.31 grammes of ketamine. 

2.  The Summary of Facts admitted by the defendant discloses that at 7.41 pm on 6 October, two officers were on anti-dangerous drug patrol when they spotted the defendant wandering outside the ground floor of 20 Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.  They found the defendant to be behaving suspiciously, so they stopped and searched him, and in the front of the defendant’s underpants, they found two transparent resealable plastic bags which contained the ketamine, the subject of the charge.  He was cautioned and admitted delivering the ketamine.

3.  In a video-recorded interview, he told the police that he came to know a female called Wah Jeh about a year ago, and she asked him to deliver drugs for him, and he had done so on previous occasions.  On the evening in question, he was told to take the drugs to a restaurant in Ashley Road, and for a successful delivery, he would have been paid $300.

4.  The defendant has six previous court appearances, and two of the convictions recorded against him were for drugs-related matters.  In 2006, he was sent to the drug addiction treatment centre.  I am told also that there are matters outstanding at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court for drug-related offences.

5.  I was told in mitigation that the defendant is 23 years of age and was educated to Form 3 standard.  At the time of his arrest, he was working as a cleaning worker earning $6,000 per month.  He has been brought up in a single-parent family and even now lives with his mother.  His mother works as a cleaning worker.  Notwithstanding his previous record and his involvement in these offences, his mother has stood by him and is in court today.  The defendant has obviously caused his mother great anxiety.

6.  As counsel for the defendant has acknowledged, the sentencing guideline in respect of persons trafficking in ketamine has recently been increased.  This is to reflect the medical information which now confirms that the use of ketamine has disastrous effects on users.

7.  For trafficking in amounts between 10 and 50 grammes of ketamine, the appropriate sentence, according to the latest guidelines, is 4 to 6 years’ imprisonment.  The defendant was trafficking in 45.31 grammes of ketamine which is to the higher end of that scale.  The only mitigation in this case is the fact that the defendant has pleaded guilty and was co-operative with the police.

8.  In respect of this matter, I take a starting point of 5 and a half years’ imprisonment and I reduce that by one-third to reflect the guilty plea entered by the defendant.  The defendant will therefore serve a sentence of 44 months’ imprisonment.