HKSAR v. Xu Zhiguang

DCCC 158/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 158 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in respectively 44.62 grammes and 57.99 grammes of ketamine.

2.Shortly before 10 p.m. on 28 December 2009 police stopped the defendant outside a building in Shaukeiwan of Hong Kong. The defendant was found carrying a bag at the time. Inside his bag police found a total of 6 packets of ketamine hidden inside two bags of egg rolls and an adaptor.

3.The defendant was taken back to his place of residence in Wong Tai Sin where 4 further bags of ketamine were found together with an electronic scale and a box of glucose powder.

4.The drugs were subsequently examined by the government chemist who confirmed the contents to be:-

(a)  a powder weighing 70.22 grammes in total which contained 44.62 grammes of ketamine, for those found inside the egg roll bags and the adaptor.

(b)  a powder weighing 86.01 grammes in total which contained 57.99 grammes of ketamine, in the 4 bags found at his home.

5.Under caution the defendant admitted the white powder was ketamine and he was offered a financial reward for delivering them. The glucose powder found at his home was to be used as an adulterant. On the day of his arrest he was tasked to deliver the ketamine and was to collect the payment for the drugs from the receiver. He was arrested before he managed to make his delivery.

6.The defendant was 22 years of age. He came to Hong Kong from the mainland in 2008. Whilst in the mainland he worked as a hair stylist. In Hong Kong he worked as a casual construction worker as well as an air-conditioner mechanist.

7.In line with the June 2008 sentencing guide, the appropriate sentence for trafficking in 44.62 grammes of ketamine and 57.99 grammes of ketamine should roughly be terms of 5 years 9 months and 6 years’ imprisonment (see Hii Siew Cheng [2009] 1 HKLRD 1 for reference).

8.The defendant was found in possession of the two quantities of drugs close in time. The general practice is to impose partially cumulative terms to reflect the sum total of drugs found on him. The total quantity of drugs found on the day were 156.23 grammes of a mixture containing 102.61 grammes of ketamine, the appropriate term would be above 6 years but below 7 years.

9.Young age and clear record are not strong mitigating factors for serious offences such as trafficking in dangerous drugs. The strongest mitigating factor for the defendant is his plea of guilty indicating his remorse. I accord him 1/3 discount and sentence him to a term of 3 years and 10 months for his 1^st charge and a term of 4 years for his 2^nd charge. To reflect totality, I order a period of 3 years and 4 months of the sentence for his 2^nd charge to be served concurrently with the term of his 1^st charge, leaving a balance of 8 months to be served consecutively. The total duration for both charges is a period of 4½ years imprisonment.