HKSAR v. Cheuk Ki Fung

DCCC1209/2010

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1209 OF 2010

----------------------

----------------------

---------------------

Reasons for Sentence

---------------------

1.Defendant, I convicted you after trial of possession of 3.68 grammes of ketamine.

2.The circumstance in which you were arrested were that shortly before 4 o’clock on 4 September last year, a team of police officers were on duty in Kwong Chi House, which is a block in the Kwong Fuk Estate, Tai Po and is adjacent to where you live.  One of the officers witnessed a drug transaction taking place where you were seen to be handed the drugs which were later found in your possession.

3.I adjourned the case for a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre report and the report from the Correctional Services Department states that you are drug-dependant and they consider that you are suitable for admission to the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.

4.In the circumstances, that would be a very lenient sentence given the quantity of drugs found in your possession.  The report describes how you were brought up in a working class family, that you didn’t get satisfactory school results but you were able to maintain an acceptable relationship with your family members.

5.However, you became acquainted with what they describe as undesirable elements in your teens and thereafter adopted a carefree style of living, and it states that you came to know drug abusers at your work place, and clearly from the facts of this case, also near to where you lived.       

6.According to the report, you have been abusing drugs since 2006 and you have managed to keep that from your family.

7.Your counsel has submitted to the court letters of support from your mother and your sister, and also from a District Council Service Officer and District Counsellor.  Those two letters, the last two letters, speak of the high regard which those people have for you and your contributions to doing voluntary work in the area.   

8.Having considered all the circumstances, I am minded not to send you to prison today, I am going to give you a chance and give you the opportunity to be detained in the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.  As your counsel has told the court, and he has obviously told you, if you are foolish enough to become involved in drugs again, you can expect to go to prison for a substantial period of time.