HKSAR v. Sit Ka Hing

HCCC 251/2016

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 251 OF 2016

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty before a magistrate to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug and is now committed before me for sentence. The dangerous drug involved is 985 grammes of a mixture containing 594 grammes of ketamine.

The estimated retail value of the ketamine involved was approximately HK$127,000.

As around 1653 hours on 25 August 2015, police officers intercepted the defendant and other two males at Tai Yau Street, Wong Tai Sin. The defendant was then carrying with him a plastic bag. Upon search, the relevant drugs were found in the plastic bag. Under caution, the defendant said the ketamine did not belong to him and he was only delivering it for someone.

At the time of the offence, the defendant was 18 years old and he is now 19. He studied up to Form 2 level and has a clear record. He was unemployed at the time of his arrest.

According to Ms Wong, counsel for the defendant, the defendant has been an apprentice in a hair salon after he left school, earning about $8,000 per month. He took a short IT course at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education and quitted his job. However, after his studies, he could not find another employment for a period of six months and at this juncture he met a person named “Ah Long”. Ah Long seduced him to traffic drugs to earn some money and out of stupidity, the defendant agreed and on the date of his arrest, it was the first time he trafficked drugs for Ah Long.

Ms Wong submitted that the defendant had been a good child before the separation of his parents. Due to the separation, the defendant’s mother has become a single mother and they were left in a dire economic situation. In order to lessen the burden of his mother, the defendant decided to quit school and wanted to earn some wages by working. Ms Wong produced some certificates from the defendant’s secondary school to prove that the defendant performed well in school. The defendant’s mother and his elder sister also wrote letters to the court to ask for leniency.

In her mitigation for the defendant, Ms Wong asked this court to adopt a lower starting point in the permitted range in view of the defendant’s previous good character and his personal circumstances.

This morning, Ms Wong also handed in a letter from the United Christian Hospital saying that the defendant’s mother is suffering from schizophrenia and depression and her condition is exacerbated and perpetrated by her worries for the defendant’s legal predicament.

Trafficking in dangerous drugs is a serious offence and the Court of Appeal has laid down sentencing tariffs in respect of different kinds of dangerous drugs. In the case Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1, for trafficking in a quantity of over 300 to 600 grammes of ketamine, the starting point for sentencing should be between 9 to 12 years’ imprisonment.

The purpose of imposing a heavy sentence for these kind of offences is for deterrence. Personal circumstances like financial crisis, family situation and previous good character are not valid mitigating factors. Although the defendant is relatively young, his age cannot be categorised as ‘extremely young’. There is, really, no strong reasons to reduce the sentence, apart from the defendant’s guilty plea.

Making reference to the sentencing tariff laid down by the Court of Appeal, for trafficking in ketamine in a quantity of 594 grammes, I will adopt a starting point of 11 years and 6 months for the present case.

Taking into the guilty plea, the sentence is reduced to 7 years and 8 months.