The facts are very simple. Briefly, at about 8 pm on 12 March 2020, police officers on an anti-narcotics operation had observed the defendant and another male walking towards Room 407 in Shek Lei Estate. And they also observed the defendant, upon reaching that room, took out his keys and tried to open the iron grille. The defendant was intercepted together with the male. Body search found nothing on either of them.
A search warrant was executed for Room 407, and inside the room were found the drugs which is the subject matter of this charge. Also found was an electronic scale and resealable transparent plastic bags. And the defendant was cautioned, and under caution, he admitted that he would sell the ‘K Chai’ and the cocaine, and the drugs had nothing to do with his father and his friend. The defendant was living in Room 407 with his father. He confirmed to the same in a cautioned interview subsequently. The defendant’s father was the tenant of Room 407.
The total street value of the drug was estimated to be about HK$10,316.28.
The defendant has a previous record of one similar which was in 2016 when he was found guilty of possession of dangerous drug and was given a probation order. So this is his first trafficking offence.
The defendant is aged 20 and he was a fire engineering worker. According to Mr Cheung appearing on his behalf, he had difficulty earning a living because of the COVID situation. So he fell into financial difficulties and was tempted therefore on this occasion to traffic in dangerous drugs.
I certainly accept that the defendant was genuinely remorseful and that he admitted to the police that the drugs were his. And this is also indicated by his plea at the earliest opportunity.
The sentencing guideline, as Mr Cheung has very helpfully laid out, has already -- is well-known. For cocaine, we have the case of Lau Tak Ming which the Court of Appeal has said that it also serves as guidelines for heroin and cocaine. And then for ketamine, there is also the case of the Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng.
And as Mr Cheung has very helpfully pointed out, the various tests he had been –- he had worked out under the various tests: the absurdity test, the conversion test and the individual approach or the combined approach, and I agree with him that in this case, the most fair way of considering the totality of the drug is to convert the drugs into one, which in this case I would consider converting the cocaine into ketamine. So converting all the drugs into ketamine will give us a starting point of 7 years and 4 months. I agree with Mr Cheung that if one converts the 7.23 grammes of cocaine into ketamine, it would be around 13.33 grammes of ketamine. So adding that to the 147 grammes of ketamine in this case, then that would give us a starting point of 7 years and 4 months.
So I would adopt Mr Cheung’s calculation. And giving the defendant the full one-third discount, it would reduce the
sentence to one of 4 years and 11 months.