COURT: Defendant, you appear today before me for sentence, having pleaded guilty in the court below to two charges of trafficking in a dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134, Laws of Hong Kong.
The particulars of the first charge being that you, on 14 November of last year, unlawfully trafficked in 2 grammes of cocaine and the second being that you, on the same day, unlawfully trafficked in quantities of ketamine, "ice", heroin and cocaine.
The summary of facts, which you have confirmed, establish that you were intercepted on the day in question in the company of another woman. You were searched. Nothing at that time was found on you, but you were taken back to Hung Hom Police Station for a more thorough search, when the drugs, being the subject matter of the 1st charge were found on you. Later on you were taken back to the Nathan Hotel, where you apparently lived, and in your room, inside a vacuum flask, a total of 53 plastic bags, containing the drugs being the subject matter of the 2nd charge were found. You told the police that all of the drugs found, you intended to sell.
You have a most unfortunate past, which is not uncommon amongst people who abuse drugs. Your husband left you in 2009 after your conviction for trafficking in dangerous drugs and I’m told that you lost contact with one of your daughters. To your credit, however, you have never sought to deny full responsibility for trafficking in these drugs, being the subject matter of both of these charges, and I will give you the appropriate discount in sentence to reflect your plea of guilty.
On the first charge, the guidelines for sentencing with regard to trafficking in quantities of cocaine are the same as those for heroin and can be found in R v Lau Tak Ming [1992] 2 HKLR 370. Up to 10 grammes, the starting point ranges from 2 to 5 years imprisonment.
With regard to Charge 1, I take as my starting point a sentence of 2 years imprisonment and I’ll discount this by one third to take account of your plea of guilty, coming to 16 months imprisonment on charge 1.
With regard to Charge 2, this is complicated by the fact that there are four different types of narcotic and with the exception of ketamine, they are all of similar quantities: 6.05 grammes of "ice"; 5.47 grammes of heroin; and 8.62 grammes of cocaine. Whilst the quantity of cocaine is slightly larger, in my judgment, the most potent narcotic is "ice".
In determining the appropriate starting with regards sentence on Charge 2, I will adopt the combined approach and take 5 years imprisonment as my starting point, based on 6.05 grammes of "ice". In order to take into account the quantities of ketamine, heroin and cocaine, I make an upward adjustment of 2 years imprisonment, increasing the starting point to one of 7 years imprisonment on Charge 2.
In order to take account of your plea of guilty to this offence, I will discount this sentence by one-third, coming to 4 years and 8 months imprisonment on Charge 2. This sentence is ordered to run consecutively to the sentence on Charge 1, arriving at a total sentence of 6 years imprisonment in all.