HKSAR v. CHEUNG CHOR MING

DCCC256/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 256 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Cheung Chor-ming, you have been convicted on your own pleas of one charge of trafficking in 26.97 grammes of a powder containing 22.05 grammes of ketamine - that is Charge 2 on the charge sheet - and one charge of possession of 0.65 grammes of cannabis in herbal form and 0.47 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 0.47 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.  That is Charge 3 on the charge sheet.

2.  You and your co-defendant, Lee Cheuk-him, were stopped by the police in the lift lobby on the 12th floor of Hei Wo House, Tai Wo Estate in Tai Po on 7 January this year, where you appeared to be acting furtively.

3.  The police then searched your home, which was at Room 1106 on the 11th floor of the building.  In a drawer, together with electronic scales and 83 empty plastic bags, the police found two bags containing the ketamine which is the subject of the charge of trafficking.  Inside the same drawer the police found two bags containing the methamphetamine hydrochloride and one bag containing the cannabis referred to in the charge of possession.

4.  The street value of the drugs found in your home was approximately $3,000.

5.  When you were arrested and cautioned, you admitted that you were selling ketamine to others, but you said that the cannabis and the “Ice” were for your own consumption.

6.  You are a man of 38 with a long history of drug offences:  five offences of possession of dangerous drugs and two of trafficking in dangerous drugs.  In 2001 you were sentenced to 6½ years’ imprisonment in the High Court for the offence of trafficking.  Six years later, in 2007, you were sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment for the same sort of offence in the Magistrates’ Court.

7.  Insofar as these offences are concerned, you clearly were well aware that serious consequences would follow if you were found either trafficking or in possession of dangerous drugs.  You decided to take that risk.

8.  I have no doubt that you have been made aware by Mr Ho that the normal starting point for those who traffic in between 10 and 50 grammes of ketamine is between 4 and 6 years’ imprisonment.

9.  In your case, I am adopting a starting point of 5 years’ imprisonment on the 2nd charge, the charge of trafficking, and 12 months’ imprisonment on the 3rd charge, the charge of possession.

10.  I have listened to all that Mr Ho has said on your behalf, and I bear in mind in particular your plea of guilty at the first opportunity.

11.  Taking into account all the mitigating circumstances which have been brought to my attention, I pass a sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment on Charge 2, the charge of trafficking.  On Charge 3, the charge of possession, I pass a sentence of 7 months’ imprisonment.

12.  Both sentences are to run concurrently. The total sentences I pass then are therefore 3 years’ imprisonment.