HKSAR v. Wong Cheuk Lai

DCCC1244/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1244 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Yes, Wong Cheuk-lai, you have been convicted on your own plea of trafficking in 245.19 grammes of a powder containing 135.26 grammes of ketamine. Those drugs were in a tinfoil bag which police officers saw you bring out of a toilet cubicle on the roof of the building in which you lived. The drugs were in nine transparent resealable plastic bags and had an estimated retail value of about $27,000. This was therefore not a small quantity of drugs.

2.When you were interviewed by the police, you admitted that you knew the drugs were ketamine.  You claimed that earlier in the day, you had met someone you only knew by the name of Ah Fat, and he had asked you to deliver the nine packets of ketamine to the Yue Man Centre in Kwun Tong in return for a reward of $1,000.  You had collected the drugs from this man and then stored them on the rooftop of the building.  When the police intercepted you, you had just collected the drugs and, presumably, were on your way to deliver them.

3.At the time of this offence, it was the day after your 18th birthday.  Nevertheless, despite your age, you would have been very well aware that serious consequences would follow if you were caught with these drugs.  Drug trafficking is a very serious offence.  As I am sure Mr Kong will have told you, the normal starting point, unless there are exceptional circumstances, for those who traffic in between 50 and 300 grammes of ketamine is 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment.  The youth of an offender is a matter that carries very little weight in an offence as serious as trafficking in dangerous drugs.

4.There are no exceptional circumstances which would justify me departing from the tariff band of 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment. However, I do bear in mind your age and your previous good character and the fact you come from a caring family and the other matters that have been urged upon me on your behalf by Mr Kong. 

5.Bearing in mind those circumstances, I am prepared to take a starting point at the bottom of the tariff band, namely, 6 years’ imprisonment.  You have pleaded guilty and indeed admitted your guilt right from the start, and for that, you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third.  I accordingly sentence you to 4 years’ imprisonment.