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HCCC171/2008
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 171 OF 2008
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Before Deputy High Court Judge Geiser
Date: 23 January 2009 at 4.09 pm
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Present:
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Mr W T Chiu, SPP of the Department of Justice , for HKSAR
Mr David Khosa, instructed by Wong & Co., for the Accused
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Offence: Trafficking in dangerous drugs (危險藥物販運)
Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above case
COURT: You have been convicted by the jury of this offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134, Laws of Hong Kong.
As the evidence has shown in this case, when the police raided these premises at Mezzanine Floor, No. 57 Ha Heung Road, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, on 3 April 2008, you admitted that inside a locked drawer of the wardrobe in the premises, and the wardrobe itself, the drugs were stored. You pointed the drugs out to the officers and made admissions to the police which were quite consistent with trafficking in these drugs.
In subsequent video interviews with the police, you gave details as to how you came about these drugs and, once again, made admissions, all of which were consistent with you possessing these drugs for the purposes of unlawful trafficking.
As this offence occurred prior to the introduction of new sentencing guidelines for trafficking in ketamine, in June of last year, the relevant sentencing guidelines in relation to trafficking in ketamine are the same as those for trafficking in Ecstasy, and Mr Khosa is correct that that is the case of HKSAR v Lee Tak Kwan [1998] 2 HKC 371. For trafficking in quantities of over 800 grammes, the appropriate starting point is 8 years’ imprisonment and upwards.
As far as trafficking in cannabis is concerned, the sentencing guidelines are contained in Attorney General v Chan Chi Man [1987] HKLR 221. For quantities of over 500 grammes, the relevant starting point is between 4 to 8 months’ imprisonment.
In the present case, this court is dealing with 1,980.2 grammes of a powder containing 1,596.73 grammes of ketamine and 990.99 grammes of herbal cannabis.
There is really no mitigation in this case. Were this court to sentence you purely in relation to the ketamine alone, I would have imposed a sentence of 11½ years’ imprisonment. The cannabis that you had in your possession will earn you an extra 6 months’ imprisonment.
Accordingly, you are sentenced to a total of 12 years’ imprisonment.
Defendant's leave to appeal against sentence granted by Court of Appeal. Please refer to CACC46/2009 dated 8 June 2010
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