HKSAR v. Wong Man Ho

HCCC 430/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 430 OF 2015

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: Defendant, on 6 November 2015, you pleaded guilty before the magistrates court to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. You have been committed to the High Court for sentence.

The offence that you committed was on 12 June 2015, at the Butterfly Estate in Tuen Mun. On that day, at about 1.20 am, police officers intercepted a taxi which was parked on the roadside at Butterfly Estate. You were one of two passengers seated in the rear seat. At that time you were holding a paper bag, and as a result of the search of this bag by the police officers the drugs of 242 grammes of a powder containing 150 grammes of ketamine were found.

You were arrested and cautioned and under caution you said, “Ah Sir, I just intend to earn some living expenses that’s why I helped someone to bring this pack of ‘K-Chai’ to Tuen Mun.” Later, in a video-recorded interview, you stated that you admitted that you knew ‘K-Chai’ meant “ketamine” and that you would receive $500 for the delivery of the drugs.

The street value at the time of the drugs seized was $30,976.

At the time of the offence, you were aged 17. You turn 18 in just under a month, on 1 February. You have one previous similar conviction to which you were sentenced to Training Centre on 11 July 2013. I am informed by Mr Melwaney, the prosecutor, that that involved trafficking in 43.46 grammes of ketamine. You were released from Training Centre on 28 October 2014. At the time of the commission of this offence you were unemployed.

Your counsel, Mr Chan Siu-ming, has mitigated fully and thoroughly on your behalf and I have taken into account what he has had to say. He informs me that, sadly, you have been brought up in a broken family. Since you were young, you did not have the supervision of your father as he was detained for a criminal offence in China. As your mother had to work you were brought up by elderly grandparents who did not provide proper supervision. You were therefore only educated to form one and thereafter you ended up mixing with undesirable peers. Hence, you got into trouble with these very serious offences.

I do sympathise with your upbringing. However, very unfortunately and sadly this is what many children, like yourself end up in trouble because you are not properly supervised and associate with undesirable peers.

The first offence you have committed was similar to this and it was and is a very, very serious offence. Despite you having served a Training Centre order, less than eight months later you committed the very same serious offence. It appears that your term you spent in Training Centre and the severity of this offence had no effect on you whatsoever. Mr Chan has urged me not to consider an enhancement of your sentence, the reason being is because you are a young man.

In the circumstances of this case, defendant, it would not be correct for me not to enhance your sentence as this is a second similar offence committed within a very short time.

Defendant, the guidelines for trafficking in ketamine are well settled in the case of Hui Siew Cheng.

For the amount of drugs that you had for trafficking of 150 grammes of ketamine, had you been convicted after trial I would have taken a sentence of 7 years’ imprisonment as a starting point. As you have a previous conviction of trafficking in a dangerous drug, that is an aggravating factor calling for the enhancement of the starting point, and I enhance the starting point by a further 3 months’ imprisonment.

Your strongest mitigating factor is your very early plea of guilty, and in those circumstances I shall give you the usual one-third discount and you shall be sentenced to 4 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.