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DCCC6/2010
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE
HONG KONGSPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 6 OF 2010
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Date:
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20 April 2010 at 10.20 am
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Present:
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Mr Keith Hotten, Counsel on fiat, for HKSAR
Ms Sabrina See, instructed by Quan & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant
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Offence:
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(1) & (2) Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物)
(3) & (4) Assaulting a police officer (襲擊警務人員)
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Reasons for Sentence
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1. The defendant was convicted after trial of two charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The offences were committed on consecutive days on 6 and 7 November in different houses at the Tin Heng Estate in Tin Shui Wai. The quantity of drugs involved in the 1st offence was 6.77 grammes of ketamine and for the 2nd offence, it was 17.66 grammes of ketamine.
2. In addition, the defendant pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting police officers. Both these offences were committed on 7 November during the course of his detention by police officers in respect of the second drug trafficking charge.
3. The facts in relation to the drug trafficking which I found proved disclosed that at 10 past 10 pm on 6 November 2009, police officers were conducting anti-crime patrol in the area of Tin Heng Estate in Tin Shui Wai, the New Territories. At around 10.30 pm, an officer spotted the defendant acting in a furtive manner at the staircase of 1905 Heung Fu House in the Estate.
4. The officer recovered the drugs, the subject of the 1st charge from the right front trouser pocket of the defendant. At the time, the defendant said the drugs were for his own consumption. The defendant appeared in court in respect of that charge on 7 November, told that he was released on bail of $5,000. He was subject to a curfew at 9 pm and ordered that he was not to leave Hong Kong. The defendant gave evidence that he was released from the court at about noon on 7 November.
5. On that night, officers were again patrolling the Tin Shui Wai district. At 10.40 that night, they came across the defendant and his girlfriend on the 14th floor of Heng Moon House on the Estate. And the officers identified themselves and, at that moment, the defendant punched the chest of one of the officers and tried to flee. That officer, PW2, lost his balance and fell onto the stairs. When the officer with him, PW3, tried to seize the defendant, he was punched by the defendant on his right shoulder.
6. PW2 grabbed the defendant’s bag to stop him but in vain. The defendant escaped and ran downstairs. Immediately he was pursued by the two officers. He was stopped at the staircase between the 11th and 12th floors and he turned round and he punched out at the second officer but missed. The defendant then pushed PW2 and PW2 fell onto the stairs and scratched his right forearm. The defendant tried to escape but lost his balance and fell onto the floor near the smoke lobby door on the 11th floor. He was approached by the officers and, in his right front trouser pocket, they found two packets of dangerous drugs containing the ketamine, the subject of the second trafficking charge.
7. The two officers involved in the assault were sent to Tuen Mun Hospital for medical treatment and, fortunately, their injuries were not serious. PW2 sustained redness and tenderness on his chest wall, tenderness, redness and abrasion of the right forearm and a sprain and tenderness of the right wrist. With regard to PW3, he sustained tenderness, redness and an abrasion on both shoulders and his left wrist, tenderness on his left hand, in particular, the distal interphalangeal joint of the ring and little finger. There was also tenderness and redness on his back.
8. I should perhaps add at this stage that the defendant also sustained injuries because of this altercation with the police officers.
9. The defendant was interviewed in connection with the case and again he claimed that the drugs which were in his possession were for his own consumption. The defendant has appeared in court on four previous occasions. He has two drug convictions, one in 2008 and one in 2009, for possession of dangerous drugs. In respect of the 1st offence, he was sent to the rehabilitation centre and for the 2nd offence to the drug addiction treatment centre.
10. The defendant is 18 years of age. During the course of giving evidence, he told the court that he lives at the Tin Heng Estate with his parents and his younger sister who is aged 16. At the time of his arrest, he was working, collecting electrical parts for a shop in the area and for which he was paid $5,500 per month.
11. The defendant is a self-confessed drug addict. He told the court that he was born in China in July 1991 and came to Hong Kong in 1996. He was educated to Form 2 level.
12. As the defendant no doubt appreciates, the offences which he has been convicted of are serious offences. Ketamine is a drug which is very commonly trafficked in Hong Kong and particularly amongst young people. This has become such a problem that recently the Court of Appeal had to increase the sentences to increase the deterrent effect on people trafficking in ketamine. Trafficking between 1 and 10 grammes, the appropriate sentence is 2 to 4 years’ imprisonment.
13. In respect of the 1st offence that the defendant was trafficking in 6.77 grammes, that would attract a sentence of around 3 years’ imprisonment. That is taking into account that some of that ketamine would have been for his own consumption.
14. For the 2nd offence, the quantity involved was 17.66 grammes of ketamine. The authorities say that for trafficking between 10 and 50 grammes, the appropriate sentence is 4 to 6 years’ imprisonment. To make matters worse, you were arrested for the 1st charge and then taken before the courts. And given your record, you were fortunate to be released on bail.
15. The bail, one of the conditions to try and stop your involvement in these matters was that you were subject to a curfew at 9 pm. Within hours of being released, you are again in possession of a substantial quantity of ketamine. On each occasion, you were found on the staircase of a house in Tin Heng Estate. Staircases are notorious for the sale and purchase of drugs. People who commit offences on bail must expect that sentences imposed for the fresh offence will be imposed consecutively.
16. On the second occasion, you no doubt realised the gravity of your situation because you were desperate to get away from the police officers and they were assaulted in the course of trying to arrest you. These officers have a difficult job to do. They have to deal with violent people, putting themselves at risk. They need to be protected.
17. I have taken into account the question of totality. In respect of the 2nd offence of trafficking, I should add that I accept that part of those drugs would be for your own consumption, and the starting point I have decided would be a sentence of 4 years’ imprisonment which some might regard as lenient. However, I have to consider the question of totality.
18. You are 18 years of age. Notwithstanding your two previous convictions and your involvement in these offences, apparently, your parents have stood by you. They are still being supportive. You really do not deserve that. I have the greatest sympathy for your parents.
19. I have read the letter that has been placed before the court, in which you apologise for your involvement in these drug-taking matters. You say that after your last admission to the drug addiction treatment centre, you thought your parents would have given up on you but they did not. Having been released from the drug addiction treatment centre, you were able to get employment and you observed that your parents had a caring attitude towards you even after your arrest, and you repaid that by committing these offences.
20. In respect of the 1st offence, I take a starting point of 3 years’ imprisonment, the 2nd offence, 4 years’ imprisonment. I have anxious consideration to the question of totality and have decided that the sentence should be 5½ years.
21. In respect of the 3rd charge, I take a starting point of 6 months’ imprisonment and I reduce that to 4 months to reflect the guilty plea in order that that run consecutive to the 5½ years for the first two offences.
22. In respect of the 4th charge, I again take a starting point of 6 months’ imprisonment. I reduce that to 4 months to reflect the guilty plea. And having considered what your counsel has said, that these were really committed on the same occasion, I order that 2 months of that should run consecutive to the sentences on the first three offences.
23. The total period of imprisonment will, therefore, be one of 6 years’ imprisonment.
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