HKSAR v. MAK SUI FAI

 DCCC103/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 103 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  The defendant has pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking, the first being that he trafficked in 27.55 grammes of a powder containing 22.61 grammes of ketamine, and the second is that he trafficked in a dangerous drug, namely, 73.92 grammes of a powder containing 58.66 grammes of ketamine.

2.  The facts are all too familiar, in that, on 29 November last year, at 2.45 am in the early hours of the morning, the defendant was intercepted outside a public toilet at Victoria Park near the Causeway Road because he was acting suspiciously. A body search revealed that in his underpants, the defendant had hidden the packet of drugs which is the subject matter of the 1st charge. Under caution, the defendant admitted that he was earning a few hundred dollars by bringing the drugs for someone.

3.  Subsequently, police officers and the defendant went to his home, and upon a house search, inside a wardrobe were found two black plastic bags. One of the bags contained three transparent resealable bags, and in each bag was contained ketamine which is the subject matter of the 2nd charge. In another black bag was contained a batch of unused resealable bags. Under caution, the defendant admitted that the empty resealable plastic bags, 98 in all, would be used to keep approximately 1 ounce of the ketamine for selling to others.

4.  Under caution, the defendant also admitted that he had bought the ketamine from someone called Man Chai on 27 November, and he said that the wardrobe was for his sole use and that he had kept the drugs and the plastic bags in that wardrobe after receiving them from Man Chai.

5.  The defendant is aged 22 and has two previous convictions, but this is the first time that he has been convicted of a drug offence. There is nothing remarkable in the background of the defendant, a typical drug-trafficker background. He left school at Form 2. He then worked at various jobs and he then for the sake of getting easy money then indulged himself in drug trafficking. He has a young son of 4 and now 5, and the young son is being after looked after by his parents.

6.  For trafficking in ketamine, guidelines have recently been given, as Mr Cheung pointed out, in the case of CAAR No. 7 of 2006 and Criminal CAAR No. 126 of 2007, and the Court of Appeal said that for trafficking in ketamine and “Ecstasy” for amounts of 10 to 50 grammes, 4 to 6 years’ imprisonment is appropriate; and for trafficking in 50 to 300 grammes, 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment is appropriate.

7.  Here, the total amount of the dangerous drugs in Charge 1 and 2 amounts to 81.27 grammes, so it will fall within the 50-to-300-grammes bracket. So the total drugs would merit a starting-point sentence of 6 years’ imprisonment. Because of the plea of the defendant, he is entitled to one-third off, so the total sentence should be 4 years’ imprisonment.

8.  So having considered that, I will sentence the defendant in the following way. In Charge 1, he is sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. In Charge 2, he is sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment, and both sentences to be served concurrently.