Mr Hanif Mughal, instructed by the Legal Aid Department
HCCC 286/2012
HCCC286/2012
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 286 OF 2012
-----------------
---------------------------------
Transcript of the Audio Recording of the Sentence in the above Case
COURT: You were arrested on 1 April this year by police officers in Sau Mau Ping Estate and found to be carrying a bag which contained what was
later analysed as 0.21 of a kilogramme of ketamine. You told the police then and subsequently that you were carrying it for another person, delivering it, in effect. I am told today that you were doing so in return for a reward of $1,000. Given that when you were 19, you were sent to gaol for 4 years for trafficking in a drug, it seems a remarkably low amount of money for you to have accepted the risk that this activity entailed. Be that as it may, the guideline by the Court of Appeal for this quantity of ketamine falls into the bracket between 50 and 300 grammes, proscribing a period of imprisonment between 6 and 9 years. You have a previous conviction for exactly the same offence. A starting point of 8 years seems to me to be appropriate. You entered a plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity. There are no further mitigating features available to you. You are to serve 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
later analysed as 0.21 of a kilogramme of ketamine.
You told the police then and subsequently that you were carrying it for another person, delivering it, in effect. I am told today that you were doing so in return for a reward of $1,000. Given that when you were 19, you were sent to gaol for 4 years for trafficking in a drug, it seems a remarkably low amount of money for you to have accepted the risk that this activity entailed.
Be that as it may, the guideline by the Court of Appeal for this quantity of ketamine falls into the bracket between 50 and 300 grammes, proscribing a period of imprisonment between 6 and 9 years. You have a previous conviction for exactly the same offence. A starting point of 8 years seems to me to be appropriate.
You entered a plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity. There are no further mitigating features available to you.
You are to serve 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.