CRIMINAL CASE NO. 246 OF 2008
COURT: Tang Wai-ha, you have pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug on 4 June of last year, 2008.
The quantities of drugs involved are extremely large. In total, there was 11,788 grammes of a powder which had 9,527 grammes of ketamine in it - that is, nearly 10 kilograms of ketamine. There were nearly 17,000 tablets which had a mixture of nitrazepam and nimetazepam in them. There was also a very small quantity of “Ice”.
You have agreed to a Summary of Facts which says that the street value of those dangerous drugs was HK$2,146,325, which is a very large amount of money.
Quite what you intended to do with all of those drugs, I am not sure. You were clearly warehousing them; storing them. Given that I am told that you worked as a nightclub representative, a public relations lady, which is probably a polite way of saying mama-san, it may well have been that you were involved in distributing them in nightclubs.
The point, however, is academic, because warehousing alone is an instance of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The law treats all people who in any way involve themselves with the filthy trade of drug dealing equally, regardless of whether they are the people who sell them or the people who move them about or look after them for others.
The date of commission of your offence is of relevance, for it is two days before the Court of Appeal laid down new guidelines for all judges as to how we should sentence people who traffic in ketamine and Ecstasy. Had you been found in possession of this vast quantity of ketamine on, for example, 7 June 2008, the day after the Court of Appeal’s decision, your prison sentence for your three offences would be very considerably longer than it is going to be. I am bound to sentence you in accordance with the old Court of Appeal guidelines for those who traffic in ketamine.
The damage that dangerous drugs do to society is very well known. The amount of drugs that you had for the purposes of trafficking could have been broken down into hundreds, possibly many thousands, of packets, and sold to many hundreds of stupid people who think it “cool” to take ketamine and such tablets as you were warehousing.
There is nothing in the circumstances of the commission of your offence or in your personal circumstances which is of any mitigating value.
I have read the medical report that has been put before me, and it is clear that you suffer from a psychiatric problem for which you have received outpatient care. If you need it, you will receive psychiatric care in prison, and if it has not already happened, in prison you will be weaned off your reliance on ketamine, Ecstasy and amphetamines.
I note you have a criminal record: one offence for theft committed a considerable time ago, and two I think more recent convictions for possession of dangerous drugs. I make it clear that I am not increasing your sentence just because you have a criminal record.
As I have already said, the date of commission of your offences is fortunate for you. Three days later - had you been caught three days later - you could, at the very least, have been looking at a prison sentence, even after a guilty plea, of 14 years or more; possibly a lot more.
However, as I have already said, I have to follow the old Court of Appeal guidelines for ketamine traffickers. They said that a ketamine trafficker who trafficked in 800 grammes of ketamine would be looking at a prison sentence after trial of 8 years, and that where the quantity of ketamine involved was higher than 800 grammes, the sentence after trial should be higher. The Court of Appeal did not say how much higher it should be; they left that to the discretion of the judge.
In this case, the quantity of ketamine involved is 10 times higher than 800 grammes, and that is ignoring the fact that you also had nearly 17,000 tablets for the purposes of trafficking.
I am of the view that under the old guidelines, a total after-trial sentence for your three offences would have been in the region of 15 years’ imprisonment.
Your pleas of guilty are your only mitigation. Because of them, you are entitled to a very substantial reduction in the sentence you would have received after trial. By pleading guilty you have accepted the inevitable, that you would have been found guilty after trial. It is a realistic acceptance of what you did. To some extent, it is taken as an expression of remorse.
Therefore, your sentences are as follows. For the 1st count, where the active quantity of ketamine that you trafficked in was 562.74 grammes, your sentence is one of 3 years and 4 months’ imprisonment. It would have been 5 years after trial.
For Count 2, which is by far the most serious count, where you trafficked in an active quantity of ketamine of 8,851 grammes - nearly 9 kilograms - of ketamine, in fact were in possession of 11 kilograms of powder containing the ketamine, as well as nearly 17,000 tablets with dangerous drugs in them, your sentence is one of 10 years’ imprisonment. It would have been 15 years after trial.
For Count 3, which is only concerned with 113.3 grammes of ketamine and 49 tablets, and a very small quantity of “Ice”, your sentence is one of 2 years’ imprisonment. It would have been 3 years after trial.
As your counsel said, all of these offences arise out of one course of criminal conduct, and I accept that submission.
Your sentences therefore will be served concurrently; at the same time, which means that your total period of imprisonment is going to be one of 10 years.