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DCCC431/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 431 OF 2010
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Before:
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H H Judge Longley
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Date:
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27 May 2010 at 10.14 am
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Present:
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Miss Chan Sze-yan, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Chu Kwok-hei, of Shea & Company, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant
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Offence:
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Trafficking in a dangerous drug(販運危險藥物)
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. Choi Kwok-kit, you have pleaded guilty to trafficking in 56.63 grammes of a powder containing 45.25 grammes of ketamine.
2. The offence occurred after midnight on 26 February this year. Police officers saw you walking about and behaving suspiciously on the podium of the Tsuen Wan Centre. They stopped and searched you and found the drugs that are the subject of the charge in one of your trouser pockets.
3. The drugs were in four resealable plastic bags. You claimed that you had been offered $300 by a person in a game centre in Mongkok to deliver the drugs to somebody at the Tsuen Wan Centre. This was not a small quantity of drugs. Their street value at the time was about HK$5,000.
4. As I am sure you are aware, drug trafficking is an offence that is regarded very seriously by the courts in Hong Kong. It is viewed so seriously that the Court of Appeal has said that, save in very exceptional circumstances, those who traffic in between 10 and 50 grammes of ketamine can expect to receive sentences of between 4 and 6 years after trial.
5. In your case, there are no exceptional circumstances. You decided to take the risk; then you must accept the consequences. The amount of drugs involved in your case was near the top of the tariff band. Despite that fact, I am prepared to take a starting point of 5 years’ imprisonment for this offence.
6. You cannot claim in mitigation to be a young man of previous good character. You have been before the courts before on a number of occasions although I note not until today for an offence of trafficking in drugs. This will be the first time that you had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment. The only real mitigation in this case is your plea of guilty and for that, you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third.
7. The sentence I pass is one of 3 years 4 months’ imprisonment.
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P.K.M Longley |
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District Judge |
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