COURT: On 26 January 2013, the defendant, aged 24, pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to a charge of trafficking in 770 grammes of ketamine contained in a mixture which was just 40 grammes short of a kilo. The defendant has today confirmed his plea and accepted the facts as summarised by the prosecution.
The defendant was arrested on 26 January this year as he sat in a taxi with a bag which contained four packets of ketamine on his lap. He admitted delivering the “K Chai” for others. His reward would have been $4,000 for doing this.
The street value of the drugs was estimated to have been $116,160.
The defendant himself is no stranger to the courts, with two previous convictions for possession of dangerous drugs and one for trafficking, amongst other offences.
The guidelines in the case reported as Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1 suggest, as Mr Ng has correctly said, a sentencing tariff of 12 to 14 years’ imprisonment for amounts of between 600 and 1,000 grammes of ketamine.
Normally I would have considered that a starting point after trial of 12 years and 9 months’ imprisonment would be appropriate, but I propose to increase this slightly in view of the defendant’s very recent conviction for trafficking in dangerous drugs which resulted in a 14-month prison sentence on 29 December 2010. This was an aggravating factor.
Mr Ng, on the defendant’s behalf, stressed that in fact the defendant had managed to keep out of trouble, following his release in October 2011, for something like 14 months, but a trafficker who comes back as quickly as this again charged with trafficking in this sort of drug must realise that his sentence is likely to be increased on that account.
I am going, accordingly, to take a starting point of 13 years’ imprisonment. Would you stand, please?
The sentence is one of 8 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.