CRIMINAL CASE NO. 116 OF 2011
COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 119.09 grammes of ketamine in Count 1, and 29.95 grammes of the same in Count 2, by pure narcotic content.
The facts of the case are simple. The defendant was seen coming out from his home behind a man who was holding a box. They were stopped by the police, who discovered that the box in fact contained the drug in Count 1. In the defendant’s socks was the drug in Count 2.
In a further search of the flat, packing paraphernalia was found.
The defendant is aged 20; 19 at the time of the offence. He was born in Hong Kong and educated up to Form 2. At the time of his arrest, he was single, unemployed, and living with his parents. He has no previous convictions.
In mitigation it was said that the defendant committed the present offence out of greed, but that he is now completely remorseful.
Put together, the drugs in Counts 1 and 2 come to a total of 149.04 grammes of ketamine by pure narcotic content. They obviously came from the same source; that is, the defendant’s stock inside his flat. So an overall starting point of 7 years and 3 months should be adopted.
With the guilty pleas, it will be lowered by one‑third to 4 years and 10 months. Apart from that, there will be no other discount.
In order to achieve that result, I sentence the defendant to 4½ years’ imprisonment on Count 1, and I sentence him to 3 years and 4 months’ imprisonment on Count 2. 4 months on Count 2 are to run consecutively to Count 1, giving a total of 4 years and 10 months.