HKSAR v. Lam Wing Ho

DCCC 36/2017

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 36 OF 2017

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REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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1.The defendant, a 23-year-old man, pleaded guilty before me to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, the drugs involved are 1,069 grammes of a solid containing 98.6 grammes of ketamine.

2.Police officers on an anti-narcotic operation came to the defendant’s flat, a public housing unit in Kwong Fuk Estate, Tai Po, in the evening of 19 October 2016.  

3.The defendant opened the door, and as soon as he realised it was the police, he then tried to close it but prevented from doing so by the officers. Having entered the flat, the officers found the drugs in question in the defendant’s bedroom together with all the paraphernalia for packaging drugs.

4.The drugs were put in two re-sealable bags which were placed in a paper bag; also found are a plastic spoon and a digital kitchen scale. Officers also discovered two Samsung paper boxes – one contains cash $2,000, 84 re-sealable bags, one small electronic scale and a pen; the other contains 126 re-sealable bags. Cash $610 and a mobile phone were seized from the computer desk in the defendant’s bedroom.

5.The street value of the drugs seized is estimated to be about HK$356,000.

6.In the subsequent interview with the police, the defendant admitted that he was unemployed at the time, and his friend “Ah Sing” brought the drugs to his flat and left them there for about 6 months. He had tasted the drugs. The digital scale, the electronic scale and the re-sealable bags all belong to him.

7.A urine test conducted on the defendant 3 days after his arrest shows no trace of drugs in his system.

8.The defendant has a clear record. His parents divorced each other sometime ago. He has two sisters - one elder, one younger. Not being capable of achieving at school, counsel said, the defendant dropped out at Form 4 and joined the labour market. He has done several jobs but all of them were to do with manual labour and all on part-time basis.

9.The defendant came to know some friends of dubious characters and under the bad influence of peers, the defendant started taking drugs a few years ago and worse still, counsel said, the defendant wanted to make quick money by trafficking in drugs - that’s the reason why he committed the present offence.

10.His parents, sisters and the defendant himself have written to court to plead leniency. The mother has suffered depression because of her son’s court case and is now receiving treatments from public hospitals. In his letter to court, the defendant expressed his remorse and promised that he would lead a law-abiding life by finding a decent job after release from prison.

11.There are sentencing guidelines for this type of offence, for trafficking in an amount between 50 and 300 grammes of ketamine, a term of 6 to 9 years is to be considered.

12.For the amount the defendant admitted trafficking, I take 79 months as starting point. As far as mitigation is concerned, apart from his guilty plea, there isn’t anything of substance. The appellate court has on many occasions reiterated the seriousness of the offence of trafficking by saying that clean record as well as young age (unless extreme youth) are not substantial mitigation.

13.The defendant is entitled to one-third discount for his plea, so it is reduced to 52 months. As there being no reason for further reduction in sentence, the defendant is therefore sentenced to 52 months’ imprisonment.