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HCCC214/2009
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 214 OF 2009
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge Geiser |
| Date: |
2 December 2009 at 11.17 am |
| Present: |
Mr Ira Lui, SPP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Jim Chun Ki Jacky, instructed by Cheung Wong & Associates, for the Accused |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in dangerous drugs (販運危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134, Laws of Hong Kong, the particulars being that you, on 5 December last year, in Tin Shui Wai, trafficked in 98.94 grammes of a mixture containing 9.80 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and 123.92 grammes of a powder containing 103.63 grammes of ketamine.
The brief facts, which you have agreed, quite simply indicate that in the afternoon of the day in question patrolling police officers found you to be acting suspiciously, so they intercepted you and found underneath your jacket a plastic bag containing the drugs in question, together with electronic scales and 12 plastic bags.
Insofar as the ketamine that you carried that day, which is some 103.63 grammes, the prosecution accept that 10 per cent of this was to be used by yourself for self-consumption, so the amount that you possessed for trafficking comes to something just over 93 grammes.
You are still very young, only 23 years of age, and already have two previous convictions for drug-related offences when you were placed on probation in August of 2006. I have been told that you have performed well at school and have tried to get rid of your drug abuse by joining a gospel drug counselling group in 2007. However, due to unemployment, you relapsed into taking dangerous drugs and I am told spent a staggering $20,000 each month on drugs. In order to pay off debts that you incurred as a result of taking drugs, you agreed to be a carrier in order to earn quick money.
You must be well aware by now, having spent a considerable time in custody already, that this type of behaviour is not only destroying your own life but also, by trafficking in these lethal substances, potentially destroying the lives of others. You are going to prison for a lengthy period and I trust that you will use this time to reflect on your behaviour and hopefully come out and make something of your life.
You are, as I say, still young, intelligent, and can, if you want to be, a useful member of society. In terms of sentence, I take into account all that has been said on your behalf by way of mitigation, particularly your plea of guilty to this charge, which is an indication of your remorse. As this court is dealing with two separate quantities of drugs, being heroin and ketamine, I propose to adopt the combined approach for the purposes of sentencing.
In my view, the more serious drug in terms of potency, is heroin. The amount of heroin that you had in your possession for the purposes of trafficking was 9.8 grammes, the proper starting point for which is 5 years' imprisonment. You had a significant quantity of ketamine in your possession for trafficking, some 93 grammes, which, standing alone, would attract a starting point of between 6 to 9 years' imprisonment.
Taking into account this additional quantity of ketamine, I propose to adopt as my starting point a sentence of 7 years' imprisonment. I will discount this by one-third to take account of your plea of guilty, coming to a sentence of 4 years and 8 months' imprisonment.
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