HKSAR v. KWOK KUEN

HCCC 148/2019

[2019] HKCFI 2140

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 148 OF 2019

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

The defendant, who is now aged 31, has pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a solid containing 141 grammes of ketamine valued, on the street, that is, at $110,700.

He was intercepted on 3rd August 2018 at 2.23 in the morning on a road in Yuen Long where he was seen wearing gloves as he carried a plastic bag. When he was searched, he was found to be in possession of $22,780 and a car key, although at that time he was not employed.

When the car was searched, an electric scale and some empty transparent resealable plastic bags were found. After his arrest, the defendant said that he was holding the drugs for a friend for the time being. He failed to answer all other questions later on.

Ms Joyce Wu has gone to great lengths to demonstrate that the defendant is from a very caring family. I have read the letters from that family, including two of his sisters and a brother, as well as his mother.

The defendant has let all of them down again very badly. He knows only too well the penalties for trafficking in dangerous drugs. He has previously served a sentence of nearly 3 years’ imprisonment for trafficking and a further 9 months consecutively for other offences, and even that has proved to be no deterrent at all. Indeed, before that, he had been to the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre for the possession of drugs and no doubt each time he comes along to court, he says, “It’s the last time I’ll be doing it.”

Now, of course, he faces a longer sentence. Under the guidelines for trafficking in ketamine, which are set out in the Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1, as Ms Wu rightly points out, those guidelines provide for a prison sentence after trial of between 6 and 9 years for 50 to 300 grammes of ketamine.

I cannot, however, overlook the fact that there is a previous offence for trafficking. In my judgment, a proper starting point here without enhancement is 7 years’ imprisonment and, with enhancement, for the previous offence of exactly this kind earlier, I shall enhance by half a year, making 7½ years’ starting point. He will receive full credit for his plea of guilty.

Would you stand please, Mr Kwok? Your counsel has said everything possible on your behalf but you make her task impossible. Your record is simply terrible. You know what these kinds of drugs do to people because it has done it to you - it has ruined your life - and, by trafficking in drugs, you ruin everybody else’s life that comes into contact with them.

In any event, you will appreciate what the sentence is likely to be in this case. You get full credit for pleading guilty early and your sentence is 5 years’ imprisonment.