COURT: The defendant had pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to trafficking in dangerous drugs in the 1st count, namely, 7.87 grammes of a solid containing 6.1 grammes of cocaine, and 15.6 grammes of a solid containing 13.4 grammes of ketamine. In the 2nd count, she has pleaded guilty to trafficking in 182.6 grammes of a solid containing 158.2 grammes of ketamine and 23.1 grammes of a solid containing 17.3 grammes of cocaine. The defendant has a clear record, and was 17 when she was arrested for the offence.
The facts of the case is not complicated. The defendant was intercepted when she left her premises in On Tat Estate in Sau Mau Ping, and upon a search, the drugs that was the subject matter of Count 1 were found on her person. Also found on her person were keys to the premises in Room 3323. The defendant was arrested and cautioned for the drugs found on her, and she said that she intended to sell them to earn money.
With the keys, the police officers unlocked the door to the premises. And in one of the bedrooms, inside a desk were
found the drugs which were the subject matter of Count 2, together with many empty resealable plastic bags and an electronic balance. Under caution, the defendant admitted that she intended to sell those as well to earn money.
The estimated street value of the drugs that were found both on her person and in the premises was in the region of $150,000, and it all depends on whether the cocaine was sold in powder or crack form.
In the video-recorded interview under caution, the defendant said that a friend of hers introduced her to a man, who then tempted her to make easy money. He then handed to her all the drugs in plastic bags that were later on found by the police. And inside her bedroom, she said that she would divide the drugs into bags and would use the electronic balance in her desk drawer to weigh the dangerous drugs. And when she was arrested, she was on the way downstairs, and she was going to make phone calls to see if she could sell the drugs to others. And she said that she had no drug habit.
The defendant, unfortunately, although she had a harmonious relationship with her parents and used to be a good student, however, after Form 3, she then lost interest in academic achievements, and she then dropped out from school in Form 4 in 2020. And Ms Chan, in her mitigation submission, said that she worked as an apprentice in a hair salon.
And it was at that time, sometime in 2021, that she discovered she was pregnant by her boyfriend. And so the defendant then gave birth to the baby eventually, and she was at that time determined to be a single mother. She worked in restaurants, and when her acquaintance, or friend, learned about her financial difficulties, the friend then introduced her to this dangerous drugs trafficking.
And it was at that time she agreed to use her bedroom to store the drugs and to repackage the drugs. And she says that if she could make a $20,000 sale, she would get a cut of $1000. And all this was out of greed.
The defendant appears to have learned her lesson, in that, she seems to have, over the time in custody, matured. And at the moment, the young infant son is being looked after by the father, and it is intended that he will be taken to England by the father to reunite with his side of the family. And I am informed that the defendant is ready to agree to this, as it is in the best interest of the infant.
I am also informed by Ms Chan that the defendant wants to be a make-up artist in the future, and would take the
opportunity whilst in custody to sit for the DSE examination. Now, all this is very heart-warming to see that a young girl has found herself maturing in custody.
And it is, of course, a very wicked crime - drug trafficking, because it not only affects the drug trafficker who is arrested and her family, it affects society. If the drugs should be dispersed in society, it will cause a lot of tragedy to happen to families whose members had taken drugs. And so the court had, over the years, decided on adopting a sentence that will hopefully prevent people from indulging in this trade, particularly for financial gains.
Ms Chan had submitted that the defendant was mainly a storekeeper and at the bottom of the hierarchy. She is not at the bottom of the hierarchy, because the bottom of the hierarchy is actually someone who just carries a packet from A to B. Here, we have her not only as a storekeeper, but also repackaging the drugs for sale.
Of course, in her favour on the other hand, is the fact that she has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, and has confessed.
Ms Chan has, very helpfully, set out the various tests that the Court of Appeal has laid down for sentencing in a mixture of drugs. In this case, the mixture is cocaine and ketamine. And I agree with Ms Chan that the most realistic sentencing approach is the combined approach in this case.
And as far as the conversion test is concerned, whether to convert the 13.4 grammes of ketamine into cocaine, or the 6.1 grammes of cocaine into ketamine, I find that the fairer way is to convert the cocaine into ketamine in the 1st count. And in the 2nd count, again, it is converting the cocaine into ketamine is also the fairer option.
And also as far as totality principle is concerned, I agree that the drugs that were found on the defendant were part of the larger amount found in her bedroom. And so the drugs should be combined when working out the starting point sentence.
So in combining the cocaine found in both charges, it would be about 23.4 grammes, and in combining the ketamine it would be about 171.6 grammes. And converting the cocaine into ketamine, it would give us an overall starting point for the whole lot of drugs into a 96 months starting point.
So I would adopt Ms Chan’s calculation and give the defendant one-third off for her early plea, which brings the sentence down to 64 months, which would be a total of 5 years and 4 months.
And as far as the charge is concerned, I would say that for each of the charges, the 1st charge and the 2nd charge, it will be 5 years and 4 months, and it would be served concurrently. So she goes to prison for 5 years and 4 months.