HKSAR v. CHAN CHI WAI

DCCC 1477/2024

[2026] HKDC 961

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1477 OF 2024

____________

____________

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of "Trafficking in dangerous drugs". The drugs involved were cocaine and ketamine.

Summary of Facts

2.  About 7:45 p.m. on 1 August 2024, PC 19007 saw a private car UB7357 ("the Car") parked on Chung Ling Lane in Shatin.  He and his teammates requested the defendant, who was alone sitting in the driver's seat, to alight from the Car.  The defendant complied.  Upon search, 2 mobile phones and a key to the Car were found on him.

3.  The Car was searched and the following items were found :-

In the storage compartment near the steering wheel:

(i) a resealable plastic bag containing 11 smaller resealable plastic bags which contained a total of 2.21 grammes of a solid containing 1.83 grammes of cocaine;

(ii) a resealable plastic bag containing 4 smaller resealable plastic bags (each marked with a red line) which contained a total of 2.59 grammes of a solid containing 2.18 grammes of ketamine;

(iii) a resealable plastic bag containing 55 smaller resealable plastic bags (each marked with a blue line) which contained a total of 11.1 grammes of a solid containing 9.27 grammes of cocaine; and

In another compartment at the front:

(iv) cash in the sum of $9,500.

4.  Upon arrest and under caution, the defendant admitted to delivering dangerous drugs for others since he was in debt.

5.  Madam Ho, registered owner of the Car, confirmed that she had lent the Car to the defendant in March 2024.  She only had one key and it was given to the defendant.  He was responsible for the parking fees.

Mitigation & Sentence

6.  The defendant just turned 26 and is single.  He has 1 conviction record, which involved 2 triad-related offences.  Defence counsel Ms. Tsang informed me that the defendant resided with his parents and one elder sister.  His most recent job was a delivery worker earning about $13,000 per month.

7.  In mitigation, Ms. Tsang submitted that the defendant owed a finance company $150,000.  He did not want to trouble his family members and decided to repay the debt by himself.  With his previous job, he managed to repay most of his debt, leaving about $20,000 outstanding.  Unfortunately, his previous employer owed him 6 months' salary. The defendant tried to seek help from the Labour Department but was unsuccessful.  He resorted to drug trafficking to solve his problems.

8.  Drug abuse has been a long-term problem in our society.  A clear message must be conveyed to the general public that "drug trafficking" is a serious crime (be it in the capacity of a seller, courier or storekeeper) and that drug traffickers (even fresh and/or young offenders) would most certainly be punished by long-term imprisonment. 

9.  The Court of Appeal has laid down clear sentencing guidelines for trafficking in cocaine[1] (see Attorney General v Pedro Nel Rojas [1994] 2 HKCLR 69 and The Queen v Lau Tak Ming & others [1990] 2 HKLR 370) and ketamine (see SJ v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1).  For 10 to 50 grammes of cocaine, the sentence ranges from 5 to 8 years' imprisonment.  For up to 10 grammes of ketamine, 2 to 4 years' imprisonment.      

10.  In determining the proper starting point, I have reminded myself of the sentencing principles for trafficking in cocktail drugs[2]. The defendant trafficked in a cocktail of drugs consisting of 11.1 grammes of cocaine and 2.18 grammes of ketamine.  For 11.1 grammes of cocaine, applying a strict arithmetical approach, the appropriate starting point is 5 years and 1 month.  Similarly, for 2.18 grammes of ketamine, 2 years and 3 months.  In my view, the "combined approach" would arrive at a realistic and fair sentence.

11.  In terms of potency and quantity, cocaine should form the basis of the starting point.  Hence, for ease of calculation, I adopt 5 years' imprisonment as the starting point.  The quantity of ketamine (2.18 grammes) is not significant enough to warrant any meaningful upward adjustment.  With the timely guilty plea, the sentence is reduced to 40 months.  Apart from this, I see no other mitigating factors which warrant any further reduction.  I sentence the defendant to 40 months' imprisonment.