CRIMINAL CASE NO. 401 OF 2010
You were stopped by an observant police officer in the street and later admitted that you were carrying it for a reward. You were 17 at the time.
It will have been explained to you that sentencing for drug trafficking is something that follows guidelines here in Hong Kong and the guideline is based on the nature of the drug and the quantity of it.
You fall into the category that runs from 50 to 300 grammes of ketamine, attracting a starting point after trial of imprisonment of 6 to 9 years. You will appreciate that it is important, because there are so many drug cases, that the sentencing is consistent and it takes an exceptional circumstances to depart substantially from the guideline. Regrettably, there is nothing exceptional about your case.
However, it is not entirely mathematical. Within the bracket, I have a very small discretion and in this case I shall exercise it in your favour because I remember that you pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, that you were co‑operative with the police and that you are only seventeen.
I take into account what I can ascertain of your background. You have been working in McDonald’s and your sister’s letter tells me about you and how it was a friend who led you astray. She says of you that you are a simple-minded and playful kid.
One of the advantages of pleading guilty, other than the discount you get, is that things said in mitigation on your behalf are more likely to be given weight. I will deal with you on the basis that you were naïve and foolish, so when I come to take a starting point it will not be entirely mathematical.
I shall take a starting point of 7 years. A one-third discount would give a sentence of 4 years and 8 months and I am prepared to round that down to 4½ years in the circumstances and for the reasons I have just said; in other words, I have used the limited room I have in sentencing in your favour. I do not think you could have hoped for a lesser sentence.
The sentence is 4½ years.