Read the full judgment text of DCCC 000869/2008 on BabelCite. This District Court judgment was delivered on 20 March 2009 before 區域法院暫委法官馬保華.
Criminal law – trafficking in dangerous drugs – ketamine (149.73g) – sentencing guidelines – guilty plea – one-third discount – prior convictions as aggravating factor – special reasons for further reduction – admissions to police – caught red-handed – self-use claim – sentence. The defendant pleaded guilty to trafficking 149.73g of ketamine and the prosecution facts were agreed. Applying the sentencing guidelines in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng 許守城 CAAR 7/2006 and HKSAR v Wong Yat San 黃日新 CACC 126/2007, the court adopted 7 years as the starting point. The defendant had four prior convictions, including two for trafficking dangerous drugs; following HKSAR v Cheung Chun Keung CACC 525/2005, the court treated these as an aggravating factor and adjusted the starting point upward to 90 months. The defendant received a one-third discount for guilty plea, reducing the sentence to 60 months; the court then exercised its discretion to further reduce the sentence to 50 months for special reasons. Applying Secretary for Justice v Hau Ping Chuen [2008] 4 HKLRD 673, the court refused any further reduction for the defendant's admissions to police given that he was caught red-handed. Applying HKSAR v Wong Suet Hau, Ice & Chan Sau Pang [2002] 1 HKLRD 69, the court refused any further reduction for the unsubstantiated claim of self-use. The defendant was sentenced to 50 months' imprisonment.
Legal issues: 氯胺酮149.73克販運量刑起點 · 前科加重罪責調整量刑起點 · 認罪扣減及特別減刑理由 · 招認及束手就擒不額外扣減 · 自用聲稱不額外扣減
Outcome: Defendant sentenced to 50 months' imprisonment
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