CRIMINAL CASE NO. 349 OF 2009
COURT: You appear here today for this court to impose sentence upon you in respect of a single count of unlawfully trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 701.32 grammes of a powder containing 600.78 grammes of ketamine. That offence occurred on 19 May 2009 at the Customs Arrival Hall of the Lok Ma Chau Control Point.
On 23 October 2009, you pleaded guilty in the Magistracy to that charge and accepted the Summary of Facts. On 7 December 2009, in this court, you confirmed your acceptance of those facts as the basis upon which this court was to pass sentence.
Turning then to the facts, shortly after midnight on what was then 19 May 2009, you were intercepted by a Customs officer as you passed through the green channel at the control point. Inside your handbag were found two plastic zip-lock bags, each of which was found to be powder that contained the ketamine the subject of the charges. You told the Customs officer that the substance was yours, although you denied knowing what it was.
In subsequent records of interview with Customs officers, you suggested that it might have come into your possession by mistake. You explained that you had been invited to cross the border to leave Hong Kong earlier the previous evening in order to have a massage. You had done so. You suggested that the underwear and other items that you put into a plastic bag which you placed in a locker whilst you had a shower and a massage might have been picked up by someone else. You suggested that, for your part, perhaps you had picked up the wrong plastic bag.
Immigration records confirm that you left Hong Kong at 2223 hours on 18 May and returned at 2 minutes past midnight on 19 May.
Turning to mitigation. You were born on 6 October 1991. It follows that, at the time of the offence, you were 17 years and 7 or 8 months old. You had never been convicted of a criminal offence before. You pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.
In mitigation, the court has received five letters, one that you have written yourself, one from your mother and father, and two from schoolteachers. It is clear from the letter that you have written to the court that you display a maturity beyond your years. You are right in saying that it is for you to accept responsibility for your actions. Although your mother and father have expressed concerns that their conduct might have in some way contributed to your offence, you are right in saying that you are the one who is responsible.
It is to your credit that you have realised that and that you have set about preparing for the future by continuing your studies and taking the Hong Kong Certificate examinations this year. It is equally clear that, in doing so, in pursuing that creditable course, you have the support of your family.
I turn then to identifying the starting point for sentence. The guideline for sentencing after trial in cases of unlawfully trafficking in ketamine are set out in the judgment of the Court of Appeal in The Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng [2008] 3 HKC 325. Unlawful trafficking in 600 grammes of ketamine falls in the band of 12 years’ imprisonment.
A factor of aggravation in the commission of this offence is the fact that you were in the act of unlawfully importing the dangerous drug into Hong Kong from outside.
Turning then to the discount of sentence - and I should state first of all that I do take, notwithstanding the factor of aggravation, a starting point of 12 years’ imprisonment - for your plea of guilty at the earliest possible opportunity, you are entitled to a discount of one-third from that taken for the starting point for sentence.
However, on the information available to me from the papers presented to the court, you are entitled to a greater discount. The sentence imposed upon you is one of 6½ years’ imprisonment.