CRIMINAL CASE NO. 215 OF 2011
COURT: Defendant Fung pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, whilst Defendant Wong was convicted after trial of that charge and pleaded guilty to another separate charge of trafficking.
They were seen by police officers to be emerging from a corridor leading to the public toilets in a shopping mall. Wong was seen to pass a packet of white stuff to Fung. They were stopped by police officers and they put up a struggle. Fung threw the packet of drugs down one level and both of them were subsequently subdued.
Wong committed another like offence whilst released on bail, in fact less than 24 hours after his release. He was found to be in possession of six packets of drugs at a staircase. He admitted to selling ketamine to make some money.
The drugs involved in the charge common to both defendants was 231.25 grams of a powder containing 200.41 grams of ketamine whilst for the other charge Wong has pleaded guilty to was 137.86 grams of a powder containing 57.29 grams of ketamine.
The market value of the larger amount of drugs was $28,000‑odd whilst for the smaller amount around $17,000.
Fung is now aged 21. He has four previous records. All are for possession of dangerous drugs. For his last conviction dated 21 October 2009 for possession of dangerous drugs he was sentenced to DATC.
Wong is aged 29. He has four items of previous conviction. His last conviction was one for possession of dangerous drugs dated 27 January 2010 for which he was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment.
The backgrounds of the two defendants as related by the respective counsel are unremarkable. Each of them started work after completion of Form 3 and found difficulty in maintaining stable jobs and eventually led to committing the present offences.
In sentencing them I have taken into account the nature of the offences, drugs involved, quantity and a sentencing guideline. I have also taken into account each defendant’s plea and mitigation forwarded by counsel on his behalf.
I shall first deal with Fung. He trafficked in just over 200 grams of ketamine. According to the guideline laid down in the case of Hii Siew Cheng, trafficking in 50 to 300 grams of ketamine warrants a starting point between 6 to 9 years.
I adopt a starting point of 8 years’ imprisonment. He is given the full one‑third discount for his plea and is sentenced to 64 months’ imprisonment.
For Wong he faces two charges, for the charge that he was convicted of after trial he goes to prison for the full 8 years. For the 2nd charge involving 57.29 grams of ketamine I adopt a starting point of 6 years, reduced to 4 years on his plea. Taking into account totality I am of the view that an overall sentence of 10 years is appropriate in Wong’s case, so I order 2 years to run consecutively.