CRIMINAL CASE NO. 67 OF 2012
COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drug involved is ketamine, and you pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to
trafficking in 0.77 kilogrammes of it.
You were stopped at the border, coming into Hong Kong, at Lok Ma Chau, and the packets containing the drug were crudely stuffed inside the top of your jeans, as we can see from the photographs in the case.
You were immediately co‑operative, and I accept the submissions made by your counsel that you honestly told the Customs the full extent of what you were up to, which was purchasing the drugs in the mainland and bringing them back here for you to resell.
It is submitted on your behalf, and I will accept, that you paid yourself the sum of $22,000 for the drugs in the mainland, and hoped to make something like $100,000 here.
In the very nice mitigation your counsel has put before me is a picture of someone basically who was a user who turned his hand to commercialising some drug supply, but in a way that was entirely amateur. I will accept his submissions in this regard. The photograph is eloquent of the unsophisticated nature of the enterprise.
And I will accept, and it is the case, that no paraphernalia was found on the home search. There had been no preparation. There was no buyer lined up, and the whole picture was one of something done in an amateur way.
I have to reflect the mischief that you were bringing these drugs across the border. You will know that sentencing for drug trafficking in Hong Kong depends on the nature of the drug and the quantity of it, and there are guidelines.
By weight, you are in the bracket that runs from 600 grammes to 1,000 grammes, attracting a starting point of imprisonment after trial of 12 to 14 years. If you had been a straightforward mule, I might have put you at a 12‑year starting point. On the other hand, your role and the fact that it crosses the border raises my sights.
I had a starting point of 13 years in mind. You will appreciate that the discretion I have is limited in this regard in the absence of exceptional circumstances, and there are no exceptional circumstances here. However, the picture painted by your counsel is one that I accept, and he has talked me down to taking a starting point of 12½ years.
Your plea of guilty earns you a one-third discount.
Accordingly, the sentence I pass upon you is one of 8 years and 4 months.
I judge that you could not realistically hope for any less than that. I have read the letter from your mother, and I thank her for it.