COURT: I shall now announce sentence.
The defendant, now aged 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in dangerous drugs in Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on 19 July 2013 and admitted the Summary of Facts. The defendant has today admitted further facts and he is convicted of those charges.
At about 9.45 pm on 25 February 2013, the defendant was seen walking alone outside Shek Lei Estate Bus Terminus, in Kwai Chung. He was intercepted by police officers for a search. He put up a struggle but was eventually restrained. Upon search, two plastic bags containing a total of 54.56 grammes of a powder containing 45.37 grammes of ketamine were found in the right front pocket of his jeans. He was arrested. Upon caution he said, “I took ‘K Chai’ for my own consumption.”
The defendant was taken back to his home at Flat B, 20th Floor, Kwai Dao Building, 139 Tai Loong Street, Kwai Chung for a house search. Inside a drawer in his bedroom police found three plastic bags containing a total of 197.78 grammes of a powder containing 161.74 grammes of ketamine, an electronic scale, and three piles of transparent resealable plastic bags.
The defendant was cautioned again. He said that all the “K Chai” found inside the drawer belonged to him and it had nothing to do with his family.
In a subsequent video-recorded interview, he said that around 6.30 pm on 25 February 2013 he came across a man named Ah Ming in a park close to his home who offered to sell him ketamine. The defendant asked for 250 grammes of ketamine and paid Ah Ming HK$8,000. The defendant gave his mobile phone number to Ah Ming before they parted. Minutes later the defendant received a phone call from Ah Ming telling him to collect one bag of ketamine from underneath a bench inside the park.
The defendant found the bag of ketamine and brought it home. At home he divided the bag into five smaller bags because that would make it easier for him to take the drug out. He said he was a drug addict and would consume 7 grammes of ketamine a day.
Before he was arrested he took two bags of ketamine out and intended to consume the drug in the street. He used the electronic scale to check the weight of the drug to see whether he had been cheated by his supplier.
This morning he further admitted that he possessed the bulk of the drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
The estimated street value of all the drugs seized was HK$31,037.
The defendant has been convicted of offences on nine previous occasions. Two of the charges were trafficking in dangerous drug but I shall not increase the sentence because of that record.
In mitigation, defence counsel, Mr Luk, submitted that one of the two packets found in the pocket of the defendant’s jeans was for his own consumption. That submission is apparently consistent with what the defendant had told the police when he was arrested and with the fact that he has six previous convictions of possession of dangerous drugs. Mr Cheng for the prosecution did not seek to dispute that submission. In all the circumstances, I accept that some of the drug in the 1st charge was intended for his own consumption.
Judging from the more or less equal size of the two packets of ketamine in the 1st charge, I take it that one half of the charged amount, ie, 22.68 grammes ketamine, was for self‑consumption.
Sentence
Based on the guidelines set out in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng & Anor [2009] 1 HKLRD 1, I shall take a starting point of 4½ years in respect of the 1st charge, ie, trafficking in 22.68 grammes of ketamine and a starting point of 7 years in respect of the 2nd charge.
Your pleas of guilty are the only factors having mitigating value. I shall give you the usual one-third discount which will result in a sentence of 36 months for the 1st charge and 56 months for the 2nd charge.
The totality of ketamine involved in trafficking was 184.42 grammes which will give rise to a starting point of 7½ years and, after one-third reduction, to a sentence of 60 months. This is the overall sentence you shall serve for the two trafficking charges.
You shall serve 36 months for the 1st charge and 56 months for the 2nd, but four months of the first sentence shall be served consecutively to the 56 months, making a total of 60 months.
As for the possession component, I adopt a starting point of 2 years, enhance it by one year to take account of the latent risk factor, and reduce it by one-third to 2 years for your plea.
Given all the circumstances, 3 months of that 2‑year sentence shall be served consecutively to the 5‑year term for trafficking, making a total of 5 years and 3 months. So you shall serve a total sentence of 5 years and 3 months.