He was seen to have driven a private vehicle into a car parking space in a car park. He was intercepted by police officers when he alighted, and the car was searched, and a number of packets of drugs were found on the floor of the front passenger’s seat.
He admitted under caution that he was delivering the ketamine in return for $7,000.
Upon analysis, the drugs were found to be 6.94 kilograms of a powder containing 5.59 kilograms of ketamine, with an estimate street value of around $874,000.
The defendant is now aged 26. He has there previous convictions involving six charges, none of which are related to dangerous drugs. His last conviction was back in 2003 for burglary, and he was sentenced to training centre.
By way of mitigation I am told that he committed the present offence because of financial reasons. At the time of the offence he was unemployed and he wanted some quick money to alleviate his family conditions. It is said that he has always maintained a harmonious relationship with his family members, and his family indicated that they would be prepared to fully support him after his discharge. And counsel has rightly pointed out that the biggest mitigation in the present case is his guilty plea.
In sentencing him, I have taken into account the facts of the case, the type of drugs involved, and the tariff case of Hii Siew Cheng, which is said that for trafficking in ketamine weighing more than 1 kilogram the starting point is over 14 years.
Apart from his guilty plea, I have also taken into account mitigation advanced, as well as the content of the mitigation letter written by his father.
I have also referred myself to the following cases where a very large amount ketamine trafficking is involved:
§ In Tsui Chi Wah HCCC 14/2010 involving 1.69 kilograms of ketamine, Deputy Judge Andrew Chan, as he then was, adopted a starting point of 16 years.
§ The case of Wu Chai Chu HCCC 102/2010, the 1st charge involved 1.73 kilograms of ketamine. McMahon J adopted a starting point of 16 years.
§ In Lee Ming Yin CACC 332/2010, the Court of Appeal considered 16 years’ starting point as appropriate for 2.2 kilograms of ketamine.
§ In the case of Chi Kwun Fung HCCC 76/2010 involving 3.79 kilograms of ketamine, Mrs Bokhary J adopted a starting point of 18 years.
§ In the case which I have already mentioned, in Wu Chai Chu for a 2nd charge, which involved 4.6 kilograms of ketamine, McMahon J adopted a starting point of 20 years.
For the present case involving narcotics of 5.59 kilograms of ketamine, I consider a starting point of 21 years appropriate.
He is given the full one-third discount for his guilty plea, and he is sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment.