COURT: The defendant had pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely, 71.4 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 69.9 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 93.18 grammes of a solid containing 66.94 grammes of cocaine, 68.32 grammes of a solid containing 28.94 grammes of ketamine, 1.39 grammes of a mixture containing 0.91 gramme of cocaine and 0.18 gramme of heroin, 0.53 gramme of a mixture containing 0.47 gramme of heroin hydrochloride and 0.15 gramme of a solid containing 0.11 gramme of methamphetamine.
Now, the facts are not complicated. On 18 November 2020, police officers saw the defendant opening the door to Room 1322 and they immediately approached him. After some struggle, he was subdued. And the defendant said he lived at the flat, so keys found on the defendant were used to open the door.
And on the strength of a search warrant, the flat was searched and many items were found both in the kitchen and the living area. Apart from the drugs, there were also other non-drug material, for example, like Epsom salt and dimethyl sulfone, which is not controlled under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. And also found were electronic scales and plastic bottles for smoking drugs and various cooking utensils, plastic bags, some empty, and also a laboratory gown and a pair of safety gloves.
The defendant was thus arrested and cautioned for trafficking in dangerous drugs. And he then admitted that he had been unemployed for a year and he therefore sold dangerous drugs to make a living. And he admitted also that the possession of the apparatus for inhaling dangerous drug was used by him for his own consumption of ‘Ice’. He also said he was not manufacturing but he was manufacturing the crystalline solid to pretend to be dangerous drugs in order to exchange for real dangerous drugs by cheating the seller.
And subsequently in the video-recorded interview, he explained further that he had intended to crystallise the Epsom salt to disguise as ketamine in order to cheat the seller and that he intended to sell to make quick money. And he said that he wanted to sell the dangerous drugs in order to make a profit. And he said that he used the inhaling device for his own consumption of ‘Ice’, which he normally would consume about 0.3 gramme of ‘Ice’ about once a week. And he was still trying different methods to make false dangerous drugs, he said.
So at the end of the day, the estimated street value of the dangerous drug seized was approximately about in the region of HK$213,000 to about HK$319,000.
The defendant is aged 26 and he has a clear record. And Mr Lee has already submitted his written submissions and it gives a picture, helpfully, to the court about his background. The defendant did have a somewhat difficult background as he comes from a broken home. He left school early. But by his own effort, he managed to get qualified in construction. And so he was earning quite well. But however, due to the COVID situation in Hong Kong, the work that he was engaging in dived down and he then was tempted by the offer of quick money and easy money. And that is how he fell into the dangerous drugs trap.
In his letter to the court, he expressed that when he was out of the job, his mother would give him money to spend and he did not want to burden her. His sister also talked about how he was a very filial son, a good son and brother. It is a shame, however, that he chose this path. But hopefully, the remorse that he has expressed in his letter is a genuine one for the sake of his family because to indulge in this kind of activity is not only harming himself but harming -- a great harm to society. And of course, the temptation of easy money is always an excuse, but hopefully with time spent in custody, it will serve to dissuade the defendant from this path of no return.
I am grateful to Mr Lee who has done the work of converting the drugs. Because of the multiplicity of the drugs, the Court of Appeal has already laid down about whether to do a conversion test or a ratio test, etc. Because of the multiplicity of the drugs, I consider that to be fairer, I would take the conversion test and convert the drugs into methamphetamine hydrochloride, that is ‘Ice’, as the base drug because of its quantity which is higher. As Mr Lee has worked out under the conversion test with ‘Ice’ as the base drug, the starting point sentence would be 139.78 months. And Mr Leung has also checked the mathematics and has come up with a similar conclusion.
As Mr Lee also very correctly pointed out, there is an aggravating factor in this case: the multiplicity of drugs, the way that the paraphernalia was set up, it was certainly an ongoing concern. And so however, I feel that that is offset by the fact that there is an element of self-use as he said in his video-recorded interview and also in the urine test that was conducted shortly after his arrest that shows he had amphetamine in his urine. So I will not increase the starting point because of that aggravating factor.
But however, after the conversion test, the starting point arrived at is 139.78 months. So I will round it up to 140 months. And taking one-third off, that will reduce it to 93.34 months, which I will then convert it into 7 years and 9 months.
And so, I will sentence the defendant to 7 years and 9 months.