|
DCCC255/2011
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 255 OF 2011
----------------------
| |
HKSAR |
|
| |
v. |
|
| |
Yip Wai-yeung |
|
| ---------------------- |
| Before: |
H H Judge Longley |
| Date: |
21 April 2011 at 11.54 am |
| Present: |
Mr Alex Wong, PP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Ms Lam Pui-san Pauline, of C P Lin & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
---------------------
Reasons for Sentence
---------------------
1. Yip Wai-yeung, you been convicted on your own plea of trafficking in 138.33 grammes of a powder containing 99.10 grammes of ketamine.
2. The offence took place on 21 January this year. In the afternoon of that day you were followed by police officers who were on anti-dangerous drugs patrol. You were seen getting into a taxi in the Cheung Sha Wan area and you took that taxi to Tai Po. You got off the taxi for about 5 minutes in Tai Po before resuming your journey in the same taxi in the direction of Kowloon.
3. The police stopped the taxi of the junction of Yan Yip Street and Wai Yip Street in Ngau Tau Kok and searched you. They found the drugs that are the subject of the charge in 22 packets from a pocket of your jacket.
4. The 22 packets were in a black bag. They had an estimated retail value at the time of about $15,493.
5. When you were arrested you immediately admitted that you were helping a friend by delivering the dangerous drugs.
6. When you were later interviewed, you said that this friend had instructed you to collect this bag containing the drugs from a flowerbed at the junction of Arran Street and Lai Chi Kok Road.
7. You had done so, and you then went to Cheung Sha Wan where you had lunch, and then, acting on his instructions, you went to Tai Po. In Tai Po you were instructed go to the McDonald’s Restaurant in Hoi Yuen Road.
8. You claimed that your reward for assisting in this way would have been $500 per day.
9. It is unnecessary for me to tell you that the courts view the offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs very seriously.
10. This was a substantial quantity of drugs. You were 25 at the time and you would have been well-aware that very serious consequences would follow if you were caught.
11. As you have been told by Ms Lam who is acting on your behalf, the normal starting point for those who traffic in between 50 and 300 grammes of ketamine is between 6 and 9 years’ imprisonment. In your case, 99.10 grammes of ketamine were involved.
12. Bearing in mind your previous good character, I am prepared to adopt a starting point at the bottom of this tariff band. That is 6 years’ imprisonment.
13. I bear in mind that this offence will deprive your wife and the child that she will have of your support during the period of your imprisonment.
14. However, the only substantial mitigation in your case is the fact that you immediately admitted this offence and have pleaded guilty, and in view of that, you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third.
15. Accordingly, the sentence I pass on you is one of 4 years’ imprisonment.
| |
P.K.M. Longley |
| |
District Court Judge |
|