HKSAR v. Lau Ho Wan, Sonic

HCCC 409/2019

[2020] HKCFI 1494

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 409 OF 2019

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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 to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one charge of possession of a dangerous drug.

He was intercepted by police, and upon search, two transparent resealable plastic bags of drugs were found inside his shoulder bag. All four plastic bags bore handwritten numbers “255”. Upon analysis, all those drugs were found to be 1,004 grammes of a solid containing 862 grammes of fluorodeschloroketamine.

The defendant was arrested and under caution he said that he received $1,000 from “Ah Shing” to bring those drugs, “K Chai”, to a person at Choi Fai Estate. Further search from his right front trousers pocket revealed three other bags of drugs found to be 0.58 grammes of a solid containing 0.49 grammes of cocaine.

He claimed that those were for his own consumption, and his urine test carried out shortly after his arrest whilst he was in remand also revealed the presence of cocaine.

The defendant has nine previous items of convictions. Back in 2011, for possession of dangerous drugs, he was sentenced to probation of 12 months. On 22 February 2019, for possession of dangerous drugs and driving without a licence, he was sentenced to a total of 3 weeks’ imprisonment. Those offences were committed on 23 July 2018 and he committed the present offences whilst he was on bail for those offences.

By way of mitigation, I was told that the defendant is now aged 37. He is single and a warehouse worker, and he used to earn $18,000 per month. And he has been taking cocaine since 2011.

When sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account the nature of the offences, the kind of drugs involved and the sentencing tariffs. I have also taken into account mitigation advanced by counsel on his behalf.

It is accepted that the fluorodeschloroketamine’s potency is similar to or slightly higher than ketamine with a slower onset of actions.

Both prosecution and defence agree that the tariff in relation to ketamine applies to the present case. And according to the tariff laid down in the case of Hii Siew Cheng, for trafficking in ketamine weighing between 600 to 1,000 grammes, a starting point of 12 to 14 years is to be adopted.

Taking into account the amount of narcotics involved in the present case and that the present case was committed whilst on bail, I adopt a starting point of 13 years and 3 months for the 1st charge. For his timely plea, he is given one‑third discount and he is sentenced to 106 months for the 1st charge. For the 2nd charge of possession of the cocaine, I adopt a starting point of 18 months and reduced to 12 months on his plea.

Whilst recognizing that these are two different offences and different types of drugs, given the small quantity involved, and even assuming that these 0.49 grammes narcotics are all ketamine and added up to the amount of narcotics in the 1st charge for purpose of sentencing on the trafficking charge, that would not affect the starting point. Therefore, I order the sentence in respect of the 2nd charge to run concurrently with the 1st charge.