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HKSAR v. Tsang King Hei

Case No.DCCC 683/2010
Court
District Court
Date09 Nov 2010
Judge—
Case Document
100%

DCCC683/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 683 OF 2010

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  HKSAR  
  v.  
  Tsang King Hei (D2)  

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Before:

H H Judge Geiser

Date:

9 November 2010 at 10.04 am

Present:

Mr Glen Kong, PP, of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Eddie Chan, of C Y Chan & Co., assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the 2nd Defendant

Offence:

Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物)

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a single charge of trafficking in 136.65 grammes of a powder containing 116.12 grammes of ketamine, being a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134, Laws of Hong Kong.

2.The brief facts which you have agreed very simply establish that at about 10.40 pm, a car in which you were a passenger was stopped at a roadblock at Chatham Road South near Gascoigne Road.

3.Upon a search of the car, police found inside a hidden compartment of the left front door of the car a plastic bag containing 16 smaller plastic bags, which themselves contained the drugs being the subject matter of the charge.  They also found a number of empty resealable plastic bags in the same compartment.

4.You were confronted with the drugs by the police and admitted to them that the drugs belonged to you.

5.You are 27 years of age and the only son in your family.  I am told that you were responsible for the family expenses prior to your arrest, so not only will your inevitable incarceration bring hardship to yourself, so it will to your parents as well.

6.The only real mitigation is your plea of guilty and I will give you full credit for that.

7.On this occasion you had a large quantity of ketamine in your possession, some 116.12 grammes of narcotic. 

8.The Court of Appeal have recently increased the sentencing guidelines for trafficking in ketamine due to the prevalence of this particular offence, and for trafficking in quantities between 50 to 300 grammes the proper starting point is one of between 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment.

9.I shall take as my starting point a sentence of 7 years’ imprisonment.  I shall discount this by one-third to reflect your plea of guilty, coming to 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.

H H Judge Geiser
District Judge