CRIMINAL CASE NO. 28 OF 2011
At about 9 pm on 4 September, year 2010, two police officers intercepted the defendant outside the exit of the Kowloon Tong MTR Station at Kent Road. The defendant was carrying a brown shoulder bag. An officer searched the shoulder bag and found three plastic bags containing the dangerous drugs as set out in the charge.
The defendant admitted, under caution, that after he left China and was on his way to the Hong Kong Immigration checkpoint at Lo Wu, an unknown male asked him to deliver the three plastic bags to someone at Kowloon Tong Station. He had no way to contact the latter. He would earn a reward of $2,000. The value of drugs in question was about $230,000.
The defendant is 44. He has five previous convictions with no similar offence. He had served a 7-year imprisonment term in 1989 for conspiracy to throw corrosive. He was last sentenced to 4 months’ imprisonment in year 2005 for possession of offensive weapon.
The defendant has two marriages with a son from the first marriage and a daughter from the second marriage. At present, his family lives in Mainland China. He received education up to form 3. He last worked as a construction site safety warden, earning about $12,000 a month. He is not an addict.
Mr Mayne, counsel for the defendant, points out that the defendant had been trying hard to study and equip himself for work despite his imprisonment and back injuries. The defendant is only a courier of drugs. He is not a professional trafficker. Mr Mayne urges me to apply the combined approach in sentencing.
For the 131.72 grammes of “Ice”, according to the tariff set out in Ching Kwok Hung ([1991] 2 HKLR 125), the starting point should be 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment. The quantity in question should attract an imprisonment of 11 years and 1 month. For the 808.83 grammes of ketamine, according to the tariff set out in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng ([2009] 1 HKLRD 1),the starting point should be 12 to 14 years’ imprisonment. The quantity in question should attract an imprisonment of 13 years. I also bear in mind the approach, when sentencing trafficking of more than one type of dangerous drugs, in HKSAR v Wong Kin Kau (CACC269/2009).
In arriving at the combined starting point, I have considered the following: (a) trafficking in 808.83 grammes of ketamine warrants an imprisonment of 13 years; it would be roughly equivalent to the criminality of trafficking in 240 grammes of “Ice”. (b) I add this notional 240 grammes of “Ice” to the 131.72 grammes of “Ice” also found in the brown shoulder bag. The total is 371.72 grammes of “Ice”. (c) The defendant is sentenced on the basis of trafficking this equivalent amount of “Ice”.
(d) For 371.72 grammes of “Ice”, the sentence should be 15 years’ imprisonment. (e) Given the circumstances in this case, I would not enhance the starting point further for the potential of mixing of the drugs. (f) A courier should not be entitled to any reduction of sentence.
Having considered the quantity of drugs and the mitigation, I take 15 years as the combined starting point. I deduct 5 years for his plea. I sentence the defendant to 10 years’ imprisonment.