HKSAR v. Ng Ying Kit

DCCC853/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 853 OF 2010

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The quantity of drugs concerned was 13.1 grammes of cocaine and 0.62 gramme of ketamine.

2.The facts admitted by the defendant disclose that on 25 May 2010, officers were keeping watch on his residence which is in Tuen Mun.  At 4 o’clock, they saw the defendant walking back alone to his address, he was stopped.  A search warrant was executed at the address and a paper box was found on a computer desk and inside this box were 67 small transparent plastic bags containing drugs.  A waist bag was found containing 483 empty transparent plastic bags.

3.The defendant was arrested.  Cash to the value of $5,352 was also found on the defendant.

4.He said that he purchased the drugs for his own consumption. 

5.In a subsequent interview, the defendant admitted that he had been living at the address of which the drugs were found since January of 2010.  He stated that the drugs seized were purchased from his friends and the small empty plastic bags found were for packing the drugs so that it would be more convenient for him to bring them out. 

6.He said he would consume the seized drugs himself and also share them with his friends.  He claimed that the cash found on him was his salary.

7.A forensic report confirmed the drugs were specified in the charge.

8.The value of the cocaine seized from the defendant is $16,755. 

9.Now, the defendant has appeared in court on two previous occasions for three offences.  Those offences were not drug-related and I note that his last appearance was some 8 years ago in 2002. 

10.The defendant was born in Hong Kong.  He is 28 years of age.  He was educated to Form 3 level.  At the time of his arrest, he was working as a transportation worker, earning some $15,000 per month.  He was part of a single-parent family.  His mother re-married and he has two younger sisters.

11.I am told that the job of transportation worker, it was a job he had held for some 18 months.  And from his salary he gave $2,000 a month to his mother.  I am told that while he has been in custody, his maternal grandfather has died who personally played a significant role in bringing up the defendant, and he has been affected by the fact that he was not able to attend the funeral.

12.It was urged upon me that a substantial part of the drugs seized were for his own consumption.

13.As counsel rightly acknowledges, the quantity of drugs, on the authority of R v Lau Tak Ming and Others, puts this in the second band of the tariff laid down by that case in the 5 to 8 year category, that is for quantities of between 10 grammes and 50 grammes.  That authority provides that up to 10 grammes of narcotic, the appropriate sentence would be 2 to 5 years.

14.The defendant is a drug addict and he has been taking cocaine, I am told, since February of 2010 when he became addicted to it. 

15.I accept what has been said on behalf of the defendant that some of the drugs seized from him were for his own consumption.

16.Looking at all the circumstances, including the amount of money found in his possession, the value of the drugs and the number of transparent plastic bags seized, I have decided to take the view that the appropriate sentence should be at the top of the first band from 2 to 5 years.

17.I take a starting point of 5 years’ imprisonment for this offence.   The defendant is entitled to a discount to reflect his guilty plea.  He will therefore go to prison for 40 months.