CRIMINAL CASE NO. 132 OF 2010
COURT: You have pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drug in the Magistrates’ Court and you have been committed to this court for sentence.
The drugs involved in the 1st charge is 10.10 grammes of a solid containing 7.40 grammes of cocaine. The drugs involved in the 2nd charge are 14.22 grammes of a solid containing 5.77 grammes of cocaine, 0.82 kilogramme of a powder containing 0.68 kilogramme of ketamine, 470 tablets containing 20.18 grammes of ketamine, 400 tablets and 15.14 grammes of tablet fragments containing a total of 20.37 grammes of ketamine and 990 tablets containing 6.57 grammes of nimetazepam.
I have taken into account everything that has been said on your behalf.
On the 1st count, I take a starting point of 4 years. You have a clear record and you have pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. I shall give you a discount of slightly more than one-third, reducing the sentence under the 1st charge to one of 2 years and 4 months.
On the 2nd charge, I take a starting point of 16 years. Discounting it by slightly more than a third for your plea of guilty and for your clear record, this comes down to 10 years and 4 months.
Adding the two sentences together would be excessive punishment, more than the punishment which you would receive if all the drugs were found together and were the subject matter of a single charge. Applying the principle of totality to avoid excessive punishment, I order that 8 months of the 2 years and 4 months in Charge 1 to be served consecutively with the 10 years and 4 months on the 2nd charge.
This will result in a total of 11 years. It is the same total as the one I would arrive at if the dangerous drugs in the two charges were the subject matter of a single charge. If so, I would have taken a starting point of 17 years and discounted it by slightly more than a third to arrive at a term of 11 years.
You will therefore go to prison for a total of 11 years' imprisonment.