CRIMINAL CASE NO. 61 OF 2012
The defendant pleaded guilty in the Eastern Magistrates’ Court to two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134.
He was committed to this court for sentence. This morning the defendant confirmed his pleas and his acceptance of the Summary of Facts.
Briefly, the defendant was stopped by the police on 3 August 2011 when he was about to return home. Upon a search conducted on the defendant, a plastic bag containing the drug particularised in the 1st count - that is, a total of 0.17 kilogramme of ketamine - was found inside his waist bag.
The defendant was arrested and cautioned. Under caution, the defendant admitted that he intended to sell the drug. Later, when the defendant was brought into the premises using the keys found on his person, another plastic bag of drugs - that is, a total of 0.08 kilogramme of ketamine which is the subject matter of the 2nd count - was found in the toilet. The defendant again admitted that the drug was his.
Mitigation
The defendant is aged 23 and is single. He was educated up to Form 5 level. At the time of the offence, the defendant was a driver earning about HK$8,000 per month.
The defendant has had three previous convictions, one of which was possession of a dangerous drug. For that possession offence, he was arrested in March 2011 and was sentenced to a term of 4 months’ imprisonment in September 2011. He finished his sentence at the end of October 2011.
As the defendant committed the present offences in August 2011, it is clear that he was then on bail in relation to the possession offence.
In mitigation, it was said that the defendant is truly remorseful. He made full admissions of the facts and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Letters written by the defendant and the defendant’s younger sister were submitted to the court. Clearly, the defendant has a very supportive family, and he himself now realises this and is prepared to mend his ways.
The Sentence
It is settled that in cases like the present, in which different parcels of drugs were found on the same day and were in relation to closely-linked facts, the combined weight of the drugs involved should be taken into account in arriving at an overall starting point. See, for example, HKSAR v Wong To CACC508/2000 7 August 2001 unreported.
Further, in Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng and Another [2009] 1 HKLRD 1, the Court of Appeal laid down the tariffs for trafficking in ketamine. For trafficking 50 to 300 grammes of ketamine, a term of imprisonment of between 6 to 9 years is called for.
In this case, the ketamine involved was a total of 250 grammes. For this quantity, and considering the facts of this case, I am going to take an overall starting point of 8½ years, and I shall adopt this as the starting point for both the 1st and the 2nd counts.
The defendant pleaded guilty, and he will receive a one‑third reduction for that. The court has said time and again that this is the high‑water mark for a guilty plea including the remorse shown. Other than this, there is nothing in this case which would warrant any further reduction in sentence.
The defendant is therefore to serve a term of 68 months’ imprisonment for each count. For the reason of totality, both of these terms are to be served wholly concurrently, making a total of 68 months.