COURT: Defendant, on 28 August 2022, you pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs before a magistrate sitting at the Eastern Magistracy.
You admitted that on 6 September 2021, outside Shop Nos B2 to B3, Ground Floor, Fortress Metro Tower, No 238 King’s Road, Fortress Hill, you unlawfully trafficked in 94.95 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 91.23 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 11.52 grammes of a powder containing 6.44 grammes of ketamine and 0.16 grammes of a solid containing 0.13 grammes of cocaine. Methamphetamine hydrochloride is commonly referred to as the drug ‘Ice’.
The Summary of Facts to which you have admitted can briefly be stated that at about 3.40 pm on 6 September 2021, police officers were conducting an anti-narcotic operation in the vicinity of King’s Road in Fortress Hill. They saw you walking past the offence location. As soon as you saw the officer, you started to run. The officers suspected that you were in possession of dangerous drugs and therefore you were intercepted.
Upon search, four plastic bags containing 6.56 grammes of a solid containing 6.23 grammes of ‘Ice’ were found inside your left trousers pocket. In your backpack to which you were carrying at the time, the remainder of the drugs as stated in the charge were found within 30 plastic bags, that is 30 plastic bags which contained ‘Ice’, ketamine and cocaine. Upon further search, two mobile phones were found and cash of $14,587.60.
The estimated street value of the drugs was as follows: For the ‘Ice’, $77,479; for the ketamine, $6,348; and for the cocaine if it were in powder form, $162, and in crack form, $215. That makes a total of roughly $84,000 worth of drugs.
You were arrested for trafficking in dangerous drugs and under caution, you admitted that someone had asked you to deliver the dangerous drugs to clients and that is what you were doing, you were helping others to deliver drugs.
Later, in the video-recorded interview, you said under caution that you were delivering drugs for a person by the name of Sing Sing. Sing Sing was a nickname for a man -- a person you met at a bar in Mong Kok. He had asked you to deliver drugs to clients.
For the drugs that you had in your possession, they were collected by you from the Prudential Centre in Jordan the day before. And at the time, you were waiting at Fortress Hill for a call from Sing Sing to tell you where to deliver the drugs that were found in your possession.
Defendant, you are aged 52, are married and have no children. You are a very well-educated man. You have a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from University of Winnipeg in Canada and you also have a Master’s Degree in Internet Security and Digital Forensics, a programme run jointly by the Hong Kong University and Middlesex University.
You are a man of clear record. You have been employed as a Nu Skin salesman since 2009 and operated various IT service companies. Your overall income was about $20,000 to which you needed to pay rent of $8,000 for your residence and $5,000 for family outings.
I am informed that the reason for committing this offence was that in early 2021, your business had run into some trouble and was not so good. You had to work for long hours but still, you could not make ends meet. Feeling tired, your friends suggested you to take ‘Ice’ to boost your spirit. Thereafter, you became addicted to the dangerous drug, ‘Ice’.
In late August 2021, you met Sing Sing and therefore, Sing Sing offered you to traffic or deliver dangerous drugs and you agreed to do so as you wanted to earn quick money.
Mr Henry Ma, your counsel, has mitigated on your behalf. His mitigation is accurate and correct in that your strongest mitigating factor is of course your early plea of guilty to this offence and your cooperation and admission to the police upon arrest. You were, as is clear from these facts, a courier. That is a person delivering drugs to others.
As is stated by Mr Ma quite properly, you had three types of drugs that you were trafficking in, they were ‘Ice’, ketamine and cocaine. For sentencing in these three different drugs which the courts generally refer to as “cocktail of drugs”, I will as suggested by Mr Ma and correctly take the combined approach and then convert the ketamine and the cocaine to the most serious drug namely ‘Ice’ and sentence you on the total quantity of ‘Ice’.
For the purposes of sentence though, I must still look at the guidelines as set down by the Court of Appeal for the various drugs involved. The guideline case for trafficking in ‘Ice’ is Tam Yi Chun. For amounts between 70 to 300 grammes, the appropriate sentence after trial is one of between 11 and 15 years’ imprisonment. For trafficking in the drug ketamine, the guideline case is set down in Hii Siew Cheng and for the amounts between 1 and 10 grammes, the appropriate sentence after trial is one of 2 to 4 years’ imprisonment. The sentencing guidelines for trafficking in cocaine is that as set out in Lau Tak Ming and for amounts of up to 10 grammes, the sentence is one of 2 to 5 years’ imprisonment.
The sentence for ketamine in the amount of 6.44 grammes, had you been convicted after trial, would attract a term of 3 years’ imprisonment and that is equivalent to trafficking to about 0.1 grammes of ‘Ice’. For the trafficking of cocaine in the amount of 0.13 grammes, that would attract a sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment after trial, which would be equivalent to trafficking in 0.1 grammes of ‘Ice’. Adding these two figures to the ‘Ice’ to which you were trafficking in, that was 91.23 grammes would make a total of 91.43 grammes of ‘Ice’ that you were trafficking in.
Defendant, as you are well aware, trafficking in dangerous drugs is a very serious offence. Your family’s letters to me are clear that you have been a filial son, a good brother and husband as well as a responsible uncle to your nephew. Your business partner or employer has spoken of your good character and so has the pastor of Tsuen Wan at the time you used to teach Sunday school.
All your family members, I understand, are here in court today. No doubt, as stated in their letters, they were shocked to see that you had committed this very very grave offence. It is, of course, a surprise to this court because it is so rare that this court sees such educated people in court committing this very very serious offence. I really have no option but to sentence you to a long term of imprisonment given the severity of your offence.
Perhaps what shows to me how simple or what a simpleton you are and how unconnected you are with crime is that upon seeing the police, you ran. Of course, you would be chased after, if the police officers see you do something as suspicious as that when seeing them.
In any event, defendant, I am here to sentence you for 91.43 grammes of ‘Ice’ to which you were trafficking in. Had you been convicted after trial, I would have taken a term of 11 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
You pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and for that reason you deserve and will receive the full one-third discount. Giving you the full one-third discount, you are sentenced to 7 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
There are no aggravating factors in this case as such because the amount of drugs, the other drugs of ketamine and cocaine, in my view are nominal. So I do not consider that the cocktail of drugs an aggravating factor.