CRIMINAL CASE NO. 193 OF 2009
COURT: Lok Kim-fai, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of doing an act preparatory to or for the purpose of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 1.98 kilograms of a powder containing 1.7 kilograms of ketamine.
I have been told that on the morning of 2 November 2006 the police were keeping observation on the movements of a particular private car, registration No. FC5255. Shortly before 1 pm that day as it was travelling along the carriageway of Salisbury Road, outside the Nikko Hotel, a bag was thrown out of the driver's window into the vegetation beneath the flyover which ran above and between the two carriageways of Salisbury Road.
The police established that the package was a green plastic bag containing what appeared to be dangerous drugs. They, accordingly, laid ambush at the scene. Almost two hours later, two different private cars were seen travelling slowly along Salisbury Road and stopped. Three men alighted from the two cars and started to search in the vegetation. The three men consisted of the drivers of the two cars and you, who was a passenger in the second car.
The police then broke cover and they arrested you and the driver of the car in which you were travelling. He was carrying the plastic bag containing the drugs. It was a substantial quantity of drugs; indeed, they had an estimated street value at the time of $356,400. The driver of the other vehicle managed to escape. You admitted to the police that you had been asked by the driver of the car in which you were travelling to help locate the drugs.
This is not, strictly speaking, a case of trafficking in dangerous drugs but simply one of doing an act in preparation for trafficking in a dangerous drug. While I take that matter into account in sentence, the difference between the offence of trafficking and that committed by you, is minor.
Had this offence been committed since June 2008, since the Court of Appeal laid down new guidelines for sentence in ketamine cases, the appropriate starting point for those who traffic in ketamine of the quantity relevant to this charge, would have been over 14 years' imprisonment. However, when you committed this offence the courts were still using earlier guidelines that provided for starting points of 8 years and upwards where the quantity of ketamine exceeded 800 grammes. Fortunately for you, those are the guidelines to which I have to look in your case.
In my view, bearing in mind the circumstances of this offence including the nature of the charge you face, the appropriate starting point is 10 years' imprisonment. I have listened to what Mr Tong has said on your behalf and I have read the letter in which you explained what had led you to commit this offence. I bear in mind that although you absconded while on bail, you subsequently decided to surrender to the police.
For the purpose of sentence, I am prepared to assume that you were not the mastermind of this case but have simply come along to assist the driver of the car in which you were travelling who was a friend of yours. You have pleaded guilty but only after a voir dire to determine the admissibility of the post-record signed by you and the video interview conducted by the police. Nevertheless, your plea of guilty is a factor which warrants a discount of 20 per cent.
Accordingly, I pass a sentence of 8 years' imprisonment on you.