COURT: Defendant, you pleaded guilty before a magistrate of one charge of possession of a dangerous drug and one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug. Today, you confirmed your pleas before me and stood convicted of the two charges.
In sentencing, I have considered the whole circumstances of the case, including its nature and facts, in particular the type and quantity of the dangerous drug involved, your background and mitigation put forward on your behalf.
The facts of the case are simple. On the evening of 13 June 2012, you were stopped upon leaving a building in Mongkok. Upon search, a packet containing what later confirmed to be 14.42 grammes of a powder containing 10.37 grammes of ketamine was found inside your trouser pocket. Under caution, you said the K Chai is for your own consumption.
Later, a search was conducted in your residence which was at the building you had just come out. There, two plastic bags containing what later confirmed to be 0.31 kilogram of a powder containing 0.23 kilogram of ketamine were found. Items also found included three packets of plastic bags and an electronic scale.
I was told that you are now 18 years of age. You came from the mainland to live in Hong Kong in 2008. You were living with your father until he passed away in February this year. You had only attended school until Form 1. Then you had worked in restaurants but were out of job since April this year. You are not a first-time offender. In January 2010, you were convicted of four charges of blackmail, one charge of criminal intimidation and one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. For these offences, you were sentenced to be trained in a detention centre. In May 2012, for an offence of criminal damage, you were fined. You had never committed any offence relating to dangerous drug.
Your counsel urged me to take into account your young age and have a sympathetic view towards your case. He told me that you committed the present offences under negative peer pressure and temptation of making easy money. He stressed that you were in a situation which made it difficult to stand the pressure and temptation. He said you were initially brought up by your mother in the mainland who had never married with your father who is almost 40 years older than her. Indeed, your father who was living in Hong Kong was married and had his own children.
I was told that your mother suffered from depression and you were subject to her physical abuse. In 2008, your father arranged you to come to Hong Kong and the two of you lived together. You lost contact with your mother since then. When your father passed away earlier this year, you were alone and were left without any family and positive social support. You started to consume ketamine. It was in these circumstances that you succumbed and committed the present offences.
The most important offence you have committed this time is trafficking in a dangerous drug. The dangerous drug you trafficked in was ketamine. The narcotic content was 0.23 kilograms. The Court of Appeal suggested in the case of SJ v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1 that a sentence of 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment should be considered for trafficking in ketamine if the narcotic content is 50 to 300 grammes.
In all the circumstances, despite you are only 18 years of age, I do not find there are good grounds to depart from the tariff. In my judgment, a starting point of 8 years is appropriate and sufficient for the charge. That is Charge 2.
For Charge 1, the possession charge, I adopt a starting point of 21 months which includes an enhancement of 6 months for the latent risk. You are entitled to a one-third discount for your guilty pleas. Having heard what your counsel told me, I am prepared to give you some further discount. The sentence I impose for Charge 1 is 1 year; and for Charge 2, 5 years. As I see it appropriate to do so, I order the two sentences to run concurrently.
By reason of the matters aforesaid, I sentence you to a total imprisonment term of 5 years.