HKSAR v. CHAN WING PANG

DCCC933/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 933 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  The defendant enters a plea of guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, preferred against him under section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134.

Facts

2.  The facts to which the defendant agrees are as follows. 

3.  The defendant first met a person by the name of “C Hing” in Mongkok a week before the day of the offence. 

4.  On the day of the offence, C Hing called the defendant and asked him to convey ketamine for him.  The defendant followed C Hing’s instructions, retrieved some ketamine from the fire hose on the 4th floor of a certain building, and took the ketamine to Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate.

5.  The defendant consumed some of the ketamine in a toilet there, and waited for C Hing’s further instructions.  Later, C Hing called him and directed him to take the ketamine to a certain person on the 36th floor, Yiu Sin House, Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate.  The defendant was promised a reward of $400.

6.  That afternoon, a team of police officers mounted an anti-narcotics operation on the 36th floor, Yiu Sin House. They saw the defendant walk out of the lift, looking nervous.  They intercepted him for inquiry and found in his possession 23 plastic bags containing what was later confirmed to be 17.25 grammes of a powder with 14.19 grammes of ketamine in it.

7.  The defendant was arrested.  He admitted to the police he helped someone sell the ketamine for monetary gains.

Conviction

8.  The court finds the defendant guilty as charged.  The defendant has had a clear record before his current conviction.

Mitigation

9.  In mitigation, the defence puts forward the following matters for the court’s consideration. 

10.  The defendant was born on the Mainland in 1990, and he came to Hong Kong when he was six. 

11.  He has received education up to Form 3 standard, and thereafter attended a vocational training course.  Having completed that course, he worked as an air-conditioning apprentice, but quit that job to become a junior chef, making $6,000 to $7,000 a month.

12.  In March this year, he became unemployed.  He met some bad friends, under whose influence he started to consume ketamine.

13.  Counsel for the defence submits the defendant has committed this offence for financial gains.  He has co-operated with the police and is remorseful.  The court is asked to give the defendant a full discount on account of his guilty plea and clear record.

14.  The defendant’s mother has written a clemency letter to the court, referring to an unhappy incident that took place in 2006, which resulted in the defendant’s father being convicted of a criminal offence, for which a six years’ sentence was imposed in 2008.  The family burdens fall squarely on the mother’s shoulder, leading to the neglect of the defendant’s upbringing.  The defendant’s mother asks the court to be as lenient as possible in sentencing the defendant.

Discussion

15.  Drug abuse poses a constant threat to the well-being of the society.  It ruins families and breeds crimes, ad hoc and organised.  It wrecks a person’s life, sometimes beyond hope and repair. 

16.  Even those who have successfully fought and overcome their addiction, their personalities and emotional make-up can be marred for life; employment opportunities for them are very often limited; and prospects of their reintegration into the society are grim. 

17.  What often awaits drug addicts and ex-drug addicts is extreme poverty over sustained periods and a life without self-esteem.  In terms of social cost and loss, the society suffers beyond measure.

18.  Drug traffickers are responsible for the spread of this vice habit.  The duty is upon the court to play its part in the fight against drug trade, to see to it that no one would be in any doubt that the society does not tolerate criminal conduct involving drug deals.

19.  The particular dangerous drug with which the court is concerned is ketamine, a psychotropic substance often used by drug abusers in conjunction with alcohol or other dangerous drugs.  It is well-known for its hallucinogenic effects. 

20.  The abuse of ketamine causes impairment of the cognitive function, in worst cases, making the abusers liable to drown, to fall from height, and to cause car accidents. 

21.  There is a correlation, medical experts have established, between ketamine and kidney dysfunction and shrunken bladder effect.  Sociologists have opined that among places where ketamine was abused, Hong Kong appeared to be worse, and that ketamine hit our younger generation, particularly those under 21.  Academic research has revealed that ketamine caused amnesia and could be used to facilitate sexual assaults by hampering the victim’s memory of what happened. 

22.  The abuse of ketamine has in recent years become rampant in Hong Kong. 

23.  In view of these factors, the Court of Appeal has laid down a sentence guideline for trafficking in ketamine (see SJ v Hii Siew Cheng [2008] 3 HKC 323).  For the amount of ketamine the defendant trafficked in, the appropriate sentence range is one of four to six years’ imprisonment.  There is no special circumstance in the instant case to justify a departure from the guideline.

24.  The defendant has had a clear record before his current conviction.  Apart from the defendant’s guilty plea and his clear record, none of his personal and family circumstances would warrant any further reduction in sentence.

Conclusion

25.  In the result, the appropriate starting point is one of four years’ imprisonment, which is reduced by one-third to reflect the defendant’s guilty plea and clear record to one of two years and eight months’ imprisonment.

Order

26.  The defendant is sentenced to serve a period of imprisonment of two years and eight months.