|
DCCC431/2012
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 431 OF 2012
----------------------
----------------------
| Before:
|
District Judge Tallentire
|
| Date:
|
21 June 2012 at 10.27 am
|
| Present:
|
Miss Claudia Ng, PP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
|
|
|
Mr Duncan Lai W F, of Chan & Associates, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant
|
| Offence:
|
Trafficking in dangerous drugs (販運危險藥物)
|
---------------------
Reasons for Sentence
---------------------
1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to one offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to sections 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134. You admitted the facts and I convicted you.
2. What occurred is as follows. Police observed an unknown female knock on the door of Room E, 3rd Floor, 18 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, at about 9.30 pm on 12 February last. She called out your name and you opened the door and admitted her. She left around 3 minutes later.
3. At about 9.54 pm another female emerged from the lift and called out your name. You joined her in the lift lobby, leaving the door of your room ajar. PCs 33483 and 5825 approached and disclosed their police identities to you. You turn and ran into the room, closing the door behind you. Despite their knocking and calling out, you did not open the door. At this point noise was emanating from the room.
4. The officers broke down the door to find you climbing out of the window from which the frame had been removed. PC33483 pulled you back into the room and subdued you.
5. PC5825 searched the room and found a plastic box and a can of suspected dangerous drugs on a table. Also, he found six piles of resealable plastic bags and electronic scales.
6. PC33483 asked you why you ran and did not open the door. You replied that it was because there were dangerous drugs in the room. PC33483 then arrested and cautioned you. You admitted that you had been unemployed for so long that you sold drugs to earn a living.
7. You were also found to be in possession of three mobile phones, $4,690 and keys.
8. Subsequent analysis of the suspected drugs revealed the following:
42.79 grammes of powder containing 33.71 grammes of ketamine;
3.11 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 2.35 grammes of N,N-dimethylamphetamine;
2.91 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 2.87 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride;
2.36 grammes of a solid containing 1.86 grammes of cocaine;
59 tablets containing 0.28 grammes of nimetazepam; and
0.50 grammes of a powder containing 0.03 grammes of ketamine and 0.11 grammes of 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine.
9. At a subsequent video recorded interview under caution you admitted the following:
all the dangerous drugs seized belonged to you;
the dangerous drugs were for self-consumption and for sale to others and friends;
you packed the dangerous drugs into different bags and sold them at different prices according to their nature and weight;
the electronic scales were used to weigh the drugs;
sometimes your friends may consume some drugs at the flat to test the quality;
most of the cash found in your possession was profit from drug trafficking; and
the room itself was loaned to you by a friend for you to stay in.
10. You admitted to three previous convictions and one bind-over, none of which were drug-related.
11. Mr Lai entered limited mitigation on your behalf because there was little to say. He produced two letters. The first was from your family and gave me a lot of background information, and the second from a previous employer for whom you had worked as a waiter in 2009. He also referred me to two sentencing authorities with which I am quite familiar and see no reason to refer to them now.
12. In respect of your personal and domestic particulars, he told me that you are educated to Form 5, unemployed, married but separated and the father of a child. It seems that you committed the offences out of economic hardship and because you had fallen in with bad associates. On your behalf Mr Lai urged leniency.
13. I take now the sentence.
14. I note that your previous convictions do not relate to drugs, that your record can be considered as a light record. I also note that despite your efforts to avoid the police initially, that once you were apprehended you were entirely co-operative, and I accept what you said to the police that parts of the drugs at least would have been for self-consumption.
15. I have also taken into account the mitigation advanced by Mr Lai on your behalf and the mitigation contained in the two letters of support.
16. In this case I adopt the combined approach, making full allowance for the factors I have mentioned. The major drug involved in this case is of course the ketamine by volume. This involved approximately 33 grammes of ketamine, just over, and falls within the range of 4 to 6 years’ imprisonment. Therefore, I take as a starting point on that drug 5 years’ imprisonment.
17. Having regard to the concept of totality and the factors I have mentioned, I consider that 6 months will cover the smaller drugs. Therefore, I take an overall starting point of 66 months’ imprisonment - 5½ years - reduced to 44 months for your plea of guilty.
|