HKSAR v. Chan Kam Leung

HCCC 486/2015

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 486 OF 2015

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

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COURT:

Chan Kam-leung, you have pleaded guilty today to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to sections 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134, in that you trafficked in 179.3 grammes of ketamine. The estimated street value of those drugs at the time of the offence is $61,952 and you are formally convicted upon that plea.

The facts of the offending have been reduced to a Summary of Facts which was read out in court and to which you have agreed.

On 17 May 2015, you were seen outside of Tam Lee Lai Fun Secondary School in the early hours of the morning, and when approached by the police, you ran away and you were seen by them to throw away a white plastic bag on the ground. That white plastic bag contained two yellow plastic bags and they contained almost half a kilo of a solid which was later found to contain the 179.3 grammes of ketamine.

On arrest, you said you had seen a fat guy drop the white bag and you had picked it up to return it to him. That, Mr Chan, is obviously not true, is it? You repeated that in interview and you refused to say anything else of any significance other than your age, your address and how you had got to the scene of the offence. But I note that since that day, you have been full and frank with the police and you have explained why you were at the scene, how you came to be there and who you were with.

You are 19 years of age. You committed this offence when you were just 17. At the time of your offending, you lived with your parents and your siblings. Although still very young, you have a criminal record. In 2013, when you were just 15 years of age, you appeared before the District Court for one count of robbery which Mr Leung has told the court about, and you received DATC for that. I note what Mr Leung says, that you were in fact even younger at the time of the actual offence.

But you were also before the court just a short time later for trafficking in dangerous drugs, which you say occurred after the offence of robbery, and you received a concurrent sentence of DATC, although now I understand 2 months was added to that disposal. You were discharged from that on 11 August 2014.

So the months between 11 August 2014 and May 2015, is not a very long time, is it, Mr Chan? You did not learn any lessons from your DATC because you committed this offence less than a year later and, as I said, when you were only 17 years of age. But I do understand now, that it appears that you were abusing ketamine throughout that time and you were involved therefore with others who distributed it because you would have had the contacts to buy the drugs. It is that background that leads you to the court today.

I have listened to everything that Mr Leung has said on your behalf and I have read the letters that were provided by yourself and your mother and the chaplain from the prison. I have taken into account everything else that has been said on your behalf by both the prosecution and the defence as to what you have done in the interim to assist.

For trafficking in ketamine, the sentencing guidelines after trial are set out in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1. For between 50 grammes and 300 grammes, the starting point after trial is between 6 and 9 years. For trafficking in 179.3 grammes of ketamine, the starting point after trial is 7 years and 6 months. I have considered HKSAR v Z [2010] 10 HKCFAR 183 and a number of the other authorities provided to me by Mr Grounds on behalf of the prosecution.

In the circumstances of this case, it would seem only just to mark the assistance which you have given to date by some limited discount because you will have served your sentence in any event by the time any other matters come to court.

You are still very young. You can turn your life around if you choose to do so. The period of incarceration you have experienced to date and the place you have been will have left its mark upon you, Mr Chan. You do not want that to be your way of life in the future and I am sure your parents do not want you to be that way. They do not want to see you in prison again either. Please make good your promise to the prosecution and try and lead an honest and drug-free life.

You will go to prison for 4 years and 6 months.