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DCCC504/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO.504 OF 2010
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| Before: |
Deputy District Judge A Yim |
| Date: |
25 August 2010 at 10:36 am |
| Present: |
Mr KWOK Wing Lung, Senior PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR |
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Mr Raymond W.M. CHEUNG, instructed by Messrs. Y.L. Yeung, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the defendant |
| Offence: |
(1) – (3)Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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Reasons for Sentence
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The defendant was charged for 3 counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4 (1) (a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134.
The defendant pleaded guilty and admitted the facts, he was convicted accordingly.
Facts
On 2 February 2010 the defendant contacted PW1, a woman police officer who posed as a decoy and offered ketamine to her. However, the transaction could not be completed due to time clash of both parties.
On 4 March 2010, the defendant offered 28 grammes of ketamine to PW1 at $2000 over phone. At 0023 hours on 5 March 2010, the defendant sold a plastic bag with 21.28 grammes of a powder containing 14.15 grammes of ketamine to PW1. After the transaction the defendant told PW1 he could supply her more ketamine in future. (Charge 1)
On 9 March 2010, PW1 called the defendant, who offered her 84 grammes of ketamine at $5000. At about 2240 hours on 10 March 2010 defendant sold PW1 a paper box with 6 plastic bags containing 81.28 grammes of a powder containing 66.22 grammes of ketamine to PW1 and also passed her a small packet containing 3.52 grammes of a powder containing 2.85 grammes of ketamine to compensate the lessened amount given on the previous occasion. (Charge 2)
Afterwards the defendant was intercepted by the nearby police officers and further found on him 3 plastic bags containing 36.75 grammes of a powder containing 29.99 grammes of ketamine. (Charge 3)
Under caution, the defendant claimed he sold ketamine as he was out of money and begged for a chance.
I refer the tariffs for sentence in HII SIEW CHENG, and consider the appropriate starting point for charge 1 to 3 to be 4 years, 6 years and 5 years respectively.
Mitigation
The defendant aged 32, single and lives alone. He has 5 previous convictions, all related to possession of dangerous drugs. The defendant used to work with a finance company earning $10,000 per month, however, because of his drug problem he lost his stable job and took up part-time job prior his arrest. He committed the present offences out of money. He felt sorry for the negative impact to his family and was remorseful for his wrong. He determined to start afresh.
The defendant is a drugs addict and had been sentenced to DATC and prison for it, he should have known the harm of drugs and that the traffickers are liable for long term imprisonment.
The defendant is entitled to 1/3 discount for his plea, I do not consider there to be any mitigation factor call for further deduction. However taking into account of the totality consideration, I order the sentence to run partly concurrent and partly consecutive, making a total of 72 months.
Order
Charge 1 sentenced to 32 months imprisonment,
Charge 2 sentenced to 48 months imprisonment, 35 months consecutive with other charges,
Charge 3 sentenced to 40 months imprisonment, 5 months consecutive with other charges; making a total of 72 months.
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(A. Yim) |
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Deputy District Judge |
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