HKSAR v. Cheung Wing Ho
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DCCC448/2010 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO. 448 OF 2010 ----------------------
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-------------------------- Reasons for Sentence -------------------------- 1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. 2.You have admitted that on 25 February 2010, in a bus terminus of Bayshore Towers at No. 608 Sai Sha Road, Ma On Shan, you unlawfully trafficked in 10.69 grammes of a powder containing 7.48 grammes of ketamine. 3.On the day in question, police officers were carrying out anti-drug duties in the Ma On Shan area. At about 7.30 pm the officers saw you at the bus terminus behaving furtively. The officers then intercepted you and revealed their police identities. Upon search, they found inside your right front jeans’ pocket a transparent, re-sealable plastic bag containing the drugs. 4.You were arrested and cautioned, and under caution, you stated that you were helping someone named Ah Fai to take the dangerous drugs to a person named Ah Ming, and you would thereafter be given a reward of $300 by Ah Fai. 5.In a subsequent written, cautioned interview, you explained that you met Ah Fai or got acquainted with him in a pub a few months previously. Ah Fai had introduced you to trafficking in these drugs. You were keen to do it, as you were interested in earning quick money, and on the day in question, Ah Fai had handed the drugs to you and asked you to bring it to a male who you would see at the bus terminus, and you would be given $1,000 for the drugs. Ah Fai would then give your reward of $300 after you had handed over the $1,000 to him. 6.Mr Boey Chung has made full and thorough mitigation on your behalf this morning. I have taken into account all that he has had to say. 7.You are aged 27 and have five previous convictions. Three of those relate to possession of dangerous drugs, to which you were sentenced in 2003, 2006 and 2007, and given a fine on each occasion. Your last conviction was March 2009, for an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, to which you were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. You therefore have one similar to the present charge. 8.Mr Chung has given me your background and referred me to your letter you have written to the court. In a nutshell, after your release from prison sometime in September 2009, after you had served your sentence for the trafficking, you had been re-employed by the company that you had worked for previous to your incarceration, and were earning some $9,000 a month. That company was a sub-contractor for the Water Supplies Department. You were employed doing construction work. 9.You are married and have been so for 4 years, and your wife is applying for settlement in Hong Kong. However, due to the present offence, you are unable to assist her in her application any further, though she has been called upon by the Mainland authorities, you will not be able to attend any interviews with the Mainland authorities. 10.You are a filial son providing some $3,000 to your parents to support their living. In your letter, you have expressed remorse for the commission of your crime. You realise that you have let down your family and you have left the financial burden now to your younger brother, and as a result of all this, you realise the importance of a good family and greatly appreciate their support whilst you have been in prison. 11.As Mr Chung rightly points out, the guidelines for trafficking in ketamine are laid down in a Court of Appeal case, of The Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng, and you fall within the second bracket or band, that is of ketamine over 1 gramme to 10 grammes, of which a sentence of imprisonment of 2 to 4 years’ imprisonment, after trial, is appropriate. 12.Mr Chung has asked me to be as lenient as I can in sentencing you, given the fact that, of course, you have pleaded guilty and the quantity of drugs involved. 13.This, as I mentioned, is not your first trafficking offence. You committed this offence less than probably 6 months after you were released for the exact same offence. 14.You do not seem to have learnt from your incarceration. If your family - the family being your parents and your wife, are in the predicament they are in, it would have been with some foresight by you at the time you committed this offence. 15.I accept, of course, that you are a drug abuser and have been since a very young age of 15, and that you may have needed the money for buying more drugs. Nevertheless, that is not an excuse or reason. 16.It appears, however, here clearly from your cautioned statement that you committed this offence in order to earn quick money. You would know by now that quick money is almost always going to get you into trouble, and nearly always something illegal. 17.Mr Chung has asked me to take a starting point of about 3 years’ imprisonment, given the quantity involved. 18.Sentencing is no mathematic calculation. However, it is clear from the guidelines that a 3-year starting point would be approximately half, between 1 and 10 grammes, which is about 5 grammes; you had more than 5 grammes. 19.I think an appropriate starting point for the quantity of drugs that you had, had I convicted you after trial, would be 3½ years’ imprisonment. 20.In those circumstances, defendant, taking that starting point and giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, I reduce that term to one of 2 years 4 months’ imprisonment, to which you are so sentenced.
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