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HCCC 397/2012
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 397 OF 2012
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HKSAR |
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LAI Kin-shing |
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| Date: |
9 January 2013 at 10.30 am |
| Present: |
Ms Jennifer Fok, SPP(Ag) of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR |
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Mr Leung Yiu-wai, Ronny, instructed by Yung, Yu, Yuen & Co, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the accused |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug(販運危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: Defendant, you appear before this court for sentence, having pleaded guilty at Eastern Magistracy to an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134, Laws of Hong Kong; the particulars being that you, on 3 May of last year, at Flat 1, 17th Floor, Kam Fat Building, No. 9 Tseng Choi Street, Tuen Mun, unlawfully trafficked in 0.28 kilogrammes of ketamine.
The Summary of Facts which you have agreed are quite straightforward, and establish that on the day in question you were intercepted outside your premises by a party of police officers.
You were then taken inside the premises, where the drugs being the subject matter of the charge were discovered inside a wardrobe, together with other drug-trafficking paraphernalia.
The drugs have a street value of over HK$40,000.
You originally told the police that they were for your own consumption. That, of course, was not true; they were for the purposes of trafficking, something which you now frankly admit.
You are 24 years of age, and whilst your parents are divorced, they are both still very supportive of you. They, together with other family members, as well as two representatives from Christian support centres, have come along to court today to demonstrate their support for you.
I have read the letters of support which have been placed before me, and I am told, and accept, that you feel genuine remorse for committing this serious offence, and are determined to turn over a new leaf.
I am aware that you have two previous convictions, one of which is for possession of dangerous drugs in September of 2011, when you were placed on probation for a period of 12 months.
Whilst this offence was committed during the period of your probation, putting you in breach of that probation order, I have decided to take no action in relation to that breach due to the length of sentence that you must inevitably serve for committing the present offence.
In sentencing you, I take into account all that has been said on your behalf, but it is your plea of guilty to this offence which affords the greatest mitigation, and I will give you due credit for that in the sentence that I propose to pass.
The sentencing guidelines for trafficking in between 50 to 300 grammes of ketamine indicate a sentence of between 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment. You are close to the top end of that scale, trafficking in some 280 grammes.
I propose to adopt a starting point of 8½ years’ imprisonment. I will discount that by one-third to take account of your plea of guilty, arriving at a sentence of 5 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
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