HKSAR v. HE GENG

DCCC 20/2016

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 20 OF 2016

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  The defendant has pleaded guilty to one offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug, there being 25.1 grammes of ketamine, the narcotic in question.

2.  The factual background of this case is very simple.  It occurred on the evening of 3 November last year, 2015.  The defendant was seen at about 11.03 in the evening by police officers who were patrolling at a roundabout in Tsz Wan Shan and they stopped and searched the defendant. 

3.  Upon the defendant they found three transparent resealable plastic bags.  Which contained, a total - there was, in fact, a total of 40.1 grammes of the mixture, but there were 25.1 grammes of narcotic eventually found.  And those drugs were found in the defendant’s right-front trouser pockets.

4.  The defendant was cautioned and he immediately admitted that he was delivering the ketamine for another person.  He gave further details of that in a video-recorded interview that he had met a friend during dinner in To Kwa Wan and, in fact, he told that person he was short on money.  The friend then asked the defendant to deliver three bags of ketamine, and the defendant agreed to do that.  He was to receive $200 for the delivery.  The defendant was intercepted in the process of making that delivery.   

5.  The actual street value of the ketamine is $4,812.

6.  The defendant admits that he possessed that quantity of ketamine for the purpose of trafficking in it.

7.  As far as the defendant’s background is concerned, he is 23 years old.  He has no criminal involvement at all in the past, he is of clear record.  He was educated at Lui Ming Choi Lutheran College.  He says he is not a drug addict, and he has been living with his father in Tsuen Wan in the New Territories. 

8.  As far as sentence in these matters is concerned, the sentences are largely determined by guideline sentencing in order to achieve perceived consistency.  For the quantity of drugs possessed by the defendant puts him in the range of 10 to 50 grammes of ketamine for which a sentence ranging between 4 to 6 years’ imprisonment as a starting point - and that is as a starting point for a person with a clear record - is the recommended guideline.

9.  The mitigating factors for this defendant are his youth, he is still only 23; his clear record; his frank admission to police on arrest.  Those are factors that I can take into account when determining whereupon that guideline to impose the starting point for this defendant.

10.  Clearly, the figure of 25.1 grammes of ketamine puts the starting point in the lower range of the sentencing guideline.  I have determined that in order to reflect the mitigating factors that I have elucidated, that I should take a starting point of 4 years and 3 months’ imprisonment, that is 51 months’ imprisonment. The defendant entitled to a one-third discount from that, that is a total of 17 month deduction.  This leads to a final sentence of 34 months’ imprisonment in this case and that is the sentence I will impose.