HKSAR v. Chan Lap Fai
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DCCC116/2011 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO. 116 OF 2011 ----------------------
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--------------------- Reasons for Sentence --------------------- 1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of a dangerous drug, contrary to section 8(1)(a) and (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. 2.The 1st charge relates to the 14 November 2010, where you had in your possession 25.26 grammes of a powder containing 19.17 grammes of ketamine near a lamppost outside Hong Yat House, Yat Tung Estate, Tung Chung, Lantau Island,. 3.For the 2nd charge, it relates to a different date, 22 December 2010, where you had 21.68 grammes of a powder containing 15.07 grammes of ketamine, and six tablets containing 0.03 grammes of nimetazepam of the drugs in a car which was parked at the junction of an unnamed road and Chun Ping Road, Chek Lap Kok, Lantau Island, 4.In respect of the 1st charge, you were stopped and searched by police officers at 1.10 am on 14 November at the location in the charge because the police believed that you were acting furtively. At that time you were holding two plastic bags of the drugs in your right hand. You were arrested and cautioned. 5.Under caution you admitted that the plastic bags contained ketamine, that you had bought the drugs at Tsim Sha Tsui at around 9 pm earlier that evening from a friend at the price of $1,800. The drugs were for your own consumption. 6.You were then granted police bail. Having been granted bail, you committed the second offence in the 2nd charge at about 3.30 am on 22 December. This time you and three other people were on board the car at the location in Chek Lap Kok. A police officer approached the car and searched you and your briefcase. The drugs in respect of Charge 2 were found in the briefcase. Nothing suspicious was found from the other three persons on board the vehicle. You were again arrested and cautioned, and you said that the drugs “K Chai” were for your own consumption. 7.Prior to sentencing you I called for a drug addiction treatment centre report. The contents of the report have been understood and admitted by you through your solicitor Mr Tam. 8.In mitigation, which I have taken into account, Mr Tam has said that you have been a drug addict for a number of years. You purchased the fairly large amount of drugs because as a bulk purchase it would last you only for a few days. He accepts that you committed the second offence whilst on bail and that is an aggravating factor. He has asked me to take into account your guilty plea. 9.Defendant, you are aged 24 and have three previous convictions, the last related to triad societies, to which you were sentenced to detention centre in 2005. You have had odd jobs, working as a delivery worker, but remained idle since December 2010. You had been toying with drugs since 2005, and eventually moved to ketamine in 2009. You have never been sentenced to drug addiction treatment centre and have no previous drug convictions. 10.The medical officer is of the opinion that you are not a drug dependent, as in the concluding paragraphs the officer says that you had stayed away from drugs for about three months since your admission into present custody on 24 December 2010. It is now of course March, and that is the three months referred to. You are therefore not suitable to for admission to the drug treatment centre. 11.As I mentioned to you on the last occasion, that even calling for the drug addiction treatment centre report, all sentencing options would be open to me, particularly that of imprisonment, as the drugs involved were of a very large quantity. But as you are not suitable for drug addiction treatment centre, the only appropriate sentence for you is one of imprisonment. 12.The drugs were large in quantity. You were found with the two bags of drugs in the 1st charge in the street outside Yat Hong House at 1 am in the morning. You had informed the court that you had purchased the drugs at 9 pm that earlier evening, you did not take them home although you had ample time to take them home to where you lived at Hong Yat House. You were however located outside Hong Yat House. At the time of arrest you would have had them in your possession for at least four hours by then. 13.In respect of the 2nd charge, you were found in a car with three other people at 3.30 am in the vicinity of Chek Lap Kok Airport. This time you had one plastic bag of drugs. You were again, although in your home district, away from home. I am informed that at the particular time you were earning about $500 a day as a casual delivery worker. 14.In view of the large quantity of drugs and the fact that the drugs were found in the street in the early hours of the morning, I consider there to be the existence of a risk factor of trafficking. I therefore consider that there is a latent risk. 15.Defendant for the offence of possession of dangerous drugs, I take a starting point of 12 months' imprisonment. In view of the latent risk factor, I enhance that sentence by a further 12 months. That makes a total sentence of 24 months. 16.However, I must give you full credit for your plea of guilty and reduce that term of 24 months by one third to one of 16 months' imprisonment. That applies to both Charges 1 and 2. 17.As your solicitor rightly points out, the 2nd charge was committed on a separate day, and there is an aggravating factor that it was committed whilst you were on police bail. I therefore consider a partly consecutive and partly concurrent sentence to be appropriate, and particularly in view of the fact and taking into account the principle of totality. 18.I therefore order eight months of Charge 2 to run consecutive to Charge 1, which would make the total term of imprisonment to one of 24 months’ imprisonment.
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