The two charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs were committed on the same date and at a similar location, that is at Kwai Wah House, Block 6, Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate, Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon, and on the same date on 12 June. The difference is that in the 1st charge the offence was committed outside Room 2103 and in Charge 2 it was committed inside Room 2103.
In respect of the 1st charge of trafficking, you admitted to trafficking in 12.9 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 11.4 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as ‘Ice’. In respect of the 2nd charge, you admitted to trafficking in 181.69 of a mixture containing 151.84 grammes of heroin hydrochloride, 0.62 grammes of a powder containing 0.35 grammes of ketamine, 69 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 64 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
In respect of the facts which support this charge and to which you had admitted, at about 6.40 pm on 12 June 2021, the police conducted an anti-narcotics operation in Kwai Wah House. A police officer saw you walking out of Room 2103. At that time you were carrying a bag. Suspecting that you were in possession of dangerous drugs, the police officer intercepted you.
Found in the waistband of your trousers, the drugs in Charge 1 was located. In the bag to which you were carrying, there was six keys, a Samsung mobile phone, two SIM cards, an iPhone and cash of $14,862. In your wallet was another $500 cash.
You were arrested for the offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs and under caution you said you only had one bag of ‘Ice’, the dangerous drugs, on you.
Using the keys found in your possession, the police officers opened the main door of the premises, that is Room 2103, and also used the keys to unlock a bedroom door inside the premises.
Upon search of the bedroom underneath the mattress of the bed, the drugs as specified in Charge 2 were found. Also found was cash of $13,000. Found in a drawer underneath the bed was also an electronic scale, a number of resealable plastic bags of different sizes contained in a resealable Ikea bag, a large number of plastic bags, a packet of straws, two pairs of scissors and three lighters.
You were again arrested for the offence of trafficking and cautioned and you said under caution the white powder and ‘Ice’, dangerous drugs, were packed by you and placed underneath the mattress. Upon examination by the expert, your DNA was found on the opening flap and outside surface of one of the bags containing drugs.
The street value of the dangerous drugs in question were as follows. For the methamphetamine hydrochloride, the value was approximately $45,291, for the heroin hydrochloride, $239,286, and for the ketamine, $352.
You had, under a video-recorded interview, said that you have been living in the premises for about half a year and the premises were owned by a friend of yours who was at the material time serving a term of imprisonment. You said that the cash found in the bag you were carrying and in your wallet belonged to you and were part of the salary which you had earned from your part-time job in a restaurant.
Defendant, you have three previous convictions, one of which is related, that is one of possession of dangerous drugs which you committed in the year 2002 and were fined $1,000. You are 38 years of age, born in Hong Kong, have been educated up to Secondary level 2. At the time of arrest you were unemployed. Prior to that in 2021, you were a part-time waiter in several restaurants.
Mr Raffell has submitted to this court written mitigation on your behalf and he has indicated to the court that you informed him that you intended to plead guilty at the very first opportunity. He submitted a letter to which you have written to the court which clearly reflects your remorse and at the time you of course admitted that you have been trafficking in these drugs.
Mr Raffell says the greatest mitigating factor here is your plea of guilty at the first opportunity and submits there are no aggravating features in this case and although you have a previous related conviction for drugs, that was for simple possession and now some 20-odd years ago and asked this court to ignore that conviction for the purposes of sentencing.
Defendant, there are two charges involved in this case. In the 1st count, the drugs involved are of ‘Ice’ and in the 2nd count, the drugs involved there are a combination of heroin, ketamine and ‘Ice’. I shall sentence you separately for each offence. However, I will take a combined approach in sentencing you for Charge 2 and convert all the drugs there to ‘Ice’ and then take a global sentence, that is a combination of ‘Ice’ in Count 1 and Count 2, to give you the appropriate sentence and reflect that in Charges 1 and 2.
I accept in this case there are no aggravating factors and the strongest mitigating factor is of course your plea of guilty at the first opportunity to which I shall award you a one-third discount. Just to say that the relevant guidelines for trafficking in the drug ‘Ice’ is laid down in Tam Yi Chun, the guidelines for trafficking heroin is laid down in Lau Tak Ming, and for ketamine is Hii Siew Cheng, and I shall follow the guidelines in those cases.
For Count 1, you have been trafficking in 11.4 grammes of ‘Ice’ which is methamphetamine hydrochloride, that falls within Tam Yi Chun’s bracket of between 10 and 70 grammes to which attracts a sentence of 7 to 11 years’ imprisonment after trial. Had you been convicted after trial for this quantity of ‘Ice’, the appropriate sentence should be one of 7 years’ imprisonment. However, giving you full credit for your plea of guilty and reducing that term by one-third, you shall be sentenced on Charge 1 to a term of 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
In respect of Count 2, as I mentioned there are different types of drugs there and I shall be converting the drugs heroin and ketamine to ‘Ice’. Firstly, in respect of the heroin, you had a quantity of 151.84 grammes of heroin. Following the guidelines in Lau Tak Ming, that will attract a sentence of 10 years 6 months had you been convicted after trial and that would convert to approximately 63 grammes of ‘Ice’. In respect to the ketamine, you had trafficked in 0.35 grammes of ketamine. Given the very small amount, a miniscule amount, I shall ignore that quantity of ketamine to convert to ‘Ice’.
You were also trafficking in 64 grammes of ‘Ice’. Therefore adding in the converted heroin and ‘Ice’ which is 63 grammes plus 64 grammes, that totals 127 grammes of ‘Ice’. In sentencing you for 127 grammes of ‘Ice’, that falls within the bracket of 70 to 300 grammes, which attracts a sentence of 11 to 15 years’ imprisonment after trial. For that quantity of ‘Ice’, that is 127 grammes of ‘Ice’, had you been convicted after trial, I would have imposed a sentence of 11 years and 9 months’ imprisonment.
Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that is allowing for a one-third discount, that term should be reduced to 7 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.
You have two charges of which you were convicted here of trafficking, so I shall add the quantities of drugs in both charges. So 1st charge, it is 11.4 grammes of ‘Ice’ and the 2nd charge is 127 grammes of ‘Ice’. So the total amount of drugs you were trafficking in in respect of both charges is 138.4 grammes of ‘Ice’.
So taking the global term of imprisonment, had you been convicted after trial for 138.4 grammes of ‘Ice’, that would attract a sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment after trial. Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term will be reduced to one of 8 years’ imprisonment. That should be the term to which you shall serve. However, to reflect the term of 8 years’ imprisonment, I order 2 months of Charge 1 to run consecutive to Charge 2, the remaining terms to run concurrent, therefore reflecting a term of 8 years’ imprisonment.