In Charge 1, you admitted to trafficking in 82.2 grammes of a solid containing 70.9 grammes of ketamine, 7.35 grammes of a solid and a crystalline solid containing 6.57 grammes of cocaine and 25.32 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 25.01 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
In Charge 2, you admitted to trafficking in 472.67 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 469.46 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 419.28 grammes of cannabis, 180.30 grammes of a solid containing 156.72 grammes of ketamine, 5.3 grammes of a solid containing 4.7 grammes of cocaine and 112 grammes of a solid containing 94.5 grammes of heroin hydrochloride.
The Summary of Facts to which you had admitted and which support the commission of these two offences were that on 6 November 2020 at around 5.37 pm, police officers were on an anti-narcotics operation and saw you coming out from the building at Nos. 16-18 Choi Hung Road. At that time, you were holding a pink paper bag, acting suspiciously as you kept looking around and walked quickly. You were intercepted at the staircase of the ground floor of the building and the paper bag you carried was searched.
Inside the paper bag that you carried, the drugs as quantified in Charge 1 were found. You were arrested and under caution you admitted you delivered ketamine, ‘Ice’ and cocaine in return for a reward of $4,000 per week.
Upon inquiries, you claimed to have come from Room A on the 1st floor of the building. You said you only had the keys to the metal gate or grille because your boss only gave you a one-time password on each occasion to unlock the electronic lock installed at the door of Room A. The police, therefore, with a search warrant, broke open the door and entered Room A. After a search of Room A, the drugs as quantified in Count 2 were found.
Under further caution, you admitted that your boss asked you to rent Room A and you regularly went to Room A to collect drugs to deliver to others.
In a subsequent video-recorded interview, you admitted you came to know your boss called ‘KK’ and upon his instruction you rented Room A for drug trafficking. Your job was to pick up the packaged drugs inside Room A and to deliver them to another colleague for onward delivery in return for $4,000 per week. You admitted that you earned about $30,000 a month.
The estate agent responsible for the rental of Room A confirmed that you had rented Room A since 1 October 2020 at a monthly rent of $4,200. Your residence or house search in Wong Tai Sin where you lived found nothing suspicious.
The total estimated street value of all the drugs found was about HK$732,017 to $746,387.
Defendant, your counsel, Mr Francis Yip, has submitted to me written mitigation on your behalf and I have also received a letter written by your mother, a social worker and yourself.
You are now 22 years of age, educated up to Form 3. You were unemployed at the time of arrest and you are a person of clear record.
Your mother has written a very heartfelt letter to the court, giving me the background of yourself and how you came to Hong Kong after you were born in China to live with your father. Sadly you were not taken very good care of. You were therefore put into the Hong Kong Sea School, did well there and showed yourself to be quite an exceptional sportsman as indicated by the photograph of medals that you received. Your father has since passed away and your mother says that you are truly remorseful and wish to bear your consequences.
I am informed by Mr Yip that your letter written to me is much on the same matters, that you wish to work hard, and learn to improve yourself whilst you are serving your term of imprisonment and do not wish to waste time.
I also received a letter from the social worker from the New Horizons Community Support Service Scheme and he also gives a short background of yourself, of which your mother has alluded to. It appears to me from what he says that quite clearly you met friends with triad backgrounds and committed the present offence under their influence. However, you have devoted yourself to study and to gain knowledge so that when you come out in the future, you have a proper planning for your life.
Mr Yip has submitted to me the cases on trafficking in those different drugs. There were five different drugs involved in this case: ‘Ice’, heroin, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis. He seeks for the court to sentence you on a conversion test and a global amount.
For the purposes of sentencing you for these five different kinds of drugs, defendant, I do intend to adopt a combined approach and convert all the drugs that are not ‘Ice’ into ‘Ice’. There will be a total global sum with the amount of drugs, of course, but then I will have to sentence you individually for each charge.
Just for the purposes of sentencing, I shall say for the trafficking in the drug ‘Ice’, the relevant guideline case is Tam Yi Chun. For heroin and cocaine, the relevant case is Lau Tak Ming. For the drug of ketamine, the relevant case is the Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng, and for the trafficking guidelines of cannabis resin, not herbal cannabis in this case, is that of Attorney General v Tuen Shui Ming. I stress that the drugs in the case involved are of herbal cannabis and not cannabis resin.
I shall deal with Charge 1 and 2 separately and then add up the total amount of ‘Ice’ to give me a global total and sentence, and then sentence you in accordance with the global amount and sentence.
Turning first to Charge 1, the drugs involved in that charge is 25.01 grammes of ‘Ice’, 6.57 grammes of cocaine, 70.9 grammes of ketamine. As I mentioned, I will be converting the cocaine and ketamine into the drug ‘Ice’. For 6.57 grammes of cocaine, that will attract a sentence of approximately 3 years and 9 months’ imprisonment, which will be equivalent to approximately 2 grammes of ‘Ice’. For the ketamine of 70.9 grammes, that would attract a term of imprisonment of 6 years after trial and that would convert to approximately 8 grammes of ‘Ice’. Therefore, adding 8 grammes of ‘Ice’ to the ‘Ice’ actually involved in the charge of 25.01 grammes would make a total of 33.01 grammes of ‘Ice’ for Charge 1.
Had you been convicted after trial for that amount of ‘Ice’, the appropriate starting point would be one of 8 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your early plea of guilty at the first opportunity, that term shall be reduced by one-third to a term of 5 years and 8 months’ imprisonment. That is for Charge 1.
For Charge 2, the quantities involved in Charge 2 were as follows: 469.46 grammes of ‘Ice’, 94.5 grammes of heroin, 4.7 grammes of cocaine, 156.72 grammes of ketamine and 419.28 grammes of herbal cannabis. Now, I convert the heroin, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis into ‘Ice’. For the heroin and cocaine, those are similar drugs of which I will add them together, which will make 99.99 grammes of heroin or cocaine which would attract a term of imprisonment had you been convicted after trial of approximately 9 years’ imprisonment, and that would convert to approximately 42 grammes of ‘Ice’. For ketamine of 156.72 grammes, that would attract a sentence of 7 years 3 months’ after trial, and that would be equivalent to approximately 15 grammes of ‘Ice’.
In respect to the 419.28 grammes of herbal cannabis, in Tuen Shui Ming anything under 2,000 grammes of cannabis resin would attract up to 16 months’ imprisonment. Herbal cannabis is about four times less in potency than cannabis resin. Had you been convicted after trial for that amount of cannabis, it would attract an approximate term of 5 months’ imprisonment. If I was to convert that amount to ‘Ice’, that would be nominal and therefore I ignore the cannabis for the purposes of conversion into ‘Ice’.
Therefore, the total ‘Ice’ involved in Charge 2 is 469.46 grammes plus 42 plus 15 which makes a total of ‘Ice’ for Charge 2 of 526.46 grammes. Had you been convicted after trial for this amount of ‘Ice’, defendant, an appropriate starting point would be one of 18 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. Giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term shall be reduced to 12 years and 4 months for Charge 2.
Now, defendant, if I were to add up the total drugs having converted them to ‘Ice’ in Charge 1 and Charge 2, it would be 33.01 grammes in Charge 1 plus 526.46 grammes in Charge 2, which makes a total quantity of ‘Ice’ of 559.47 grammes to which you were trafficking in both charges. So taking the global approach and the total quantity of drugs, that quantity of drugs would attract a sentence starting point after trial of 19 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
As Mr Yip says, the greatest mitigating factor and the only mitigating factor in this case is your plea of guilty and that term shall be reduced to one of 12 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.
To reflect the term of 12 years and 10 months’ imprisonment, I order 6 months of Charge 1 to run consecutive to Charge 2 and the remaining term to run concurrent, making the total term of 12 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.