COURT: Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. You have admitted that on 23 July 2013 outside Lim Kit House, Lei Cheng Uk Estate, Kwong Lee Road, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, you unlawfully trafficked in 0.24 kilogrammes of a powder containing 0.20 kilogrammes of ketamine.
On the day in question, police officers who were patrolling in that area saw you hand over to another person a white plastic bag containing the drugs. As you were doing this, the police made known their presence and both of you withdrew your hands, however, at that time you were the one who was still holding the plastic bag. Inside the bag were found the drugs stated in the charge. The street value was estimated to be about $29,040. As a result of this, you were arrested and charged, but the other man was not, as a result of insufficient evidence.
This is your first offence, therefore you are of clear record. At the time you committed this offence, you were 19 years of age. You are now aged 20.
Your counsel, Mr Clement Lau, has informed me of your background and I have taken that into account. I am informed that the reason for you committing this offence was because at the material time you had been unemployed for two months and came under the influence of some bad peers. You were to be paid a reward of $1,000 had this deal been completed; clearly it was not, as you were arrested.
Mr Lau has properly referred me to the sentencing guidelines for that of trafficking in this quantity of ketamine. The relevant guidelines for the appropriate sentence is set down in the case of Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng.
You were trafficking in an amount of 200 grammes of ketamine. That quantity falls within the fourth bracket, which is an amount of between 50 to 300 grammes, whereby a sentence of 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment is appropriate as a starting point after trial.
Clearly your most significant mitigating factor is your plea of guilty. This has shown the court your remorse and it has saved the court time.
Taking into account the quantity of drugs that you had for the purposes of trafficking, I take a starting point of 7 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term shall be reduced to one of 5 years’ imprisonment to which you shall so serve.