HKSAR v. CHENG KA HO

HCCC173/2009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 173 OF 2009

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drug was ketamine. There was 662 grammes of it. Half of it was in your physical possession. The other half was in the car from which you had alighted just before being intercepted. Your plea acknowledges your criminal responsibility for the full amount of 662 grammes.

You will have been told and will have been aware that sentencing for such offences depends on the nature of the drug and the quantity of it and that sentences depend on guidelines. The guideline in your case dictates a starting point, after trial, of between 12 and 14 years. The guidelines are not straitjackets but there has to be a good reason to take someone out of a bracket and put them in another one. No such reason exists in your case.

However, when it comes to where to place you within the bracket, I shall put you at the bottom of it and that reflects your attitude to the offence with your remorse and plea of guilty and your relative youth, taken with those matters that Mr Wu has urged so nicely upon me.

Accordingly, the starting point I take is one of 12 years. You earn a one-third discount for your plea. The resulting sentence is one of 8 years' imprisonment.