CRIMINAL CASE NO. 2 OF 2011
COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drug in question was ketamine. You were guilty of trafficking in 269.95 grammes of it. You were caught by police going to the room where the drugs were stored.
One of the advantages of pleading guilty beyond the one‑third discount is that you have not spent your credibility telling lies in a trial and your mitigation is more likely, therefore, to be given some weight.
I will, therefore, accept what you said to the police about the matter and what is repeated on your behalf in the mitigation; that you were not the owner of the drugs, that you were a recruited courier and had little, in fact, to do with them other than move them from a place in a flower bed to the flat in question.
It will have been explained to you that sentences for trafficking in dangerous drugs in Hong Kong are based on guidelines which are in turn based upon the nature and quantity of the drug. You fall into the category for ketamine of 50 to 300 grammes which attracts a starting point, after trial, of 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment. By weight alone, therefore, you are towards the top end of the bracket.
However, I have taken into account your attitude of co‑operation with the authority, the fact that you are only 21 and the fact that you have a clear record before this and I will accept the assertion made by your counsel in his written mitigation to the effect that you are a naïve young man.
Bearing all of those matters in mind, as well as the actual weight of the drug, I think that the right starting point is in the middle of that bracket at 7½ years. So after the discount for the plea of guilty that will give a sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and that is the sentence I pass upon you. I do not think you could have realistically hoped for any less.