CRIMINAL CASE NO. 431 OF 2011
COURT: The 41-year-old defendant has pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in 660 grammes of ketamine, Count 1; to an offence of trafficking in a
cocktail, or combination, of drugs, being 2,440 grammes of ketamine and 45.23 grammes of “Ice” - that is, methamphetamine hydrochloride - and 7.46 grammes of cocaine, being Count 3; and to an offence of possession of 9.89 grammes of “Ice”, Count 2.
The facts of the case were that the defendant was intercepted and searched by police during the course of an anti‑drug operation in Sham Shui Po. Inside a bag carried by the defendant was found the drugs the subject of Count 1. Inside the defendant’s trouser pocket was found a small box which contained the drugs the subject of Count 2.
The defendant was arrested. Using keys found in the defendant’s possession, the arresting police officers went to a nearby address and gained entry to a small room. The room was searched, and the drugs the subject of Count 3 were found.
The defendant admitted to the police the drugs the subject of Counts 1 and 3 were trafficked in by him, those the subject of Count 1 being delivered by him to another person at the time of his arrest, and those the subject of Count 3 being possessed by him for the purpose of trafficking.
So far as Count 1 is concerned, bearing in mind the quantity and nature of the drug involved, I take a starting point for sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment. The only mitigation available to the defendant on this count, as well as Counts 2 and 3, is his plea of guilty, and for that he gets full credit.
Accordingly, the defendant’s sentence in respect of the offence the subject of Count 1 is reduced to a sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment.
So far as Count 3 is concerned, I sentence on the basis that the ketamine component of the combination of drugs was by far the more serious, given its quantity, and I additionally bear in mind the nature and quantities of the “Ice” and cocaine also the subject of the count. I take a starting point for sentence of 18 years’ imprisonment. Allowing the full discount for the defendant’s plea of guilty, that is reduced to a sentence in respect of the 3rd count of 12 years’ imprisonment.
So far as the possession of “Ice” the subject of Count 2 is concerned, I take an initial starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment. There, in my view, was in the circumstances of this case a very considerable latent risk that these drugs would also be trafficked, and I increase that starting point to one of 18 months’ imprisonment. That is reduced again to a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment given the defendant’s plea of guilty.
Given the totality and nature of the drugs involved in these offences, including the not insignificant quantity of “Ice” in Count 3, I order that 2 years of the sentence imposed in respect of Count 1 be served consecutively to the sentence imposed in respect of Count 3, and that the balance be served concurrently. I order that the sentence imposed in respect of Count 2 be served concurrently to the other sentences.
That is a totality of 14 years’ imprisonment.