CRIMINAL CASE NO. 423 OF 2011
COURT: Defendant, you were convicted after trial of one count of possession of dangerous drugs.
In sentencing, I have considered the whole circumstances of the case, including its nature and facts, in particular the nature and quantity of the dangerous drugs concerned, your background, and mitigation put forward on your behalf.
The facts of the case are simple. On 19 May 2011, in the early hours, shortly after 2 a.m. you were stopped by police officers on a street in the Jordan area. Upon search, a transparent resealable plastic bag containing a substance in crystalline form was found in the right inner pocket of the trousers you were wearing.
The substance was confirmed to be 22.32 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 21.93 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
I was told that you are 53 years of age and have received education only up to Primary 5 level. You are married, and were living with your wife in the mainland. Before the arrest you were in the trade of selling old mobile phones.
You were not a first-time offender. Indeed, you have committed the serious offence of robbery several times. Your other convictions include wounding with intent and possession of offensive weapons. These, however, all took place almost 20 years ago.
In 2004 you were convicted of the offences of possession of dangerous drugs and possession of the equipment fit for consumption of dangerous drugs, and were sentenced to a total of 4 months’ imprisonment.
Your counsel urged me to take into account the fact that upon arraignment, you pleaded guilty to the offence of possession of dangerous drugs, but such plea was not accepted by the prosecution. Indeed, well before the trial such a plea offer had been made to the Department of Justice, but it was not accepted.
I have considered a DATC report. The report confirms that you are a habitual drug abuser. It is opined that you are no longer drug dependent, and therefore treatment in DATC is not recommended.
In all the circumstances, I am of the view that an imprisonment term is appropriate.
Having regard to the quantity of “Ice” in your possession, I adopt an initial starting point of 18 months. In my judgment, taking into consideration the quantity of the dangerous drug involved and the circumstances in which you were found in possession of the dangerous drug, the latent risk is self-evidently high. For this reason, I enhance the starting point by 12 months.
You are entitled to a one-third discount from this ultimate starting point since you have pleaded guilty to this charge, despite you pleaded not guilty to the original charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs, for which you were acquitted.
Having regard to the whole circumstances, including what your counsel has ably said for you, in my judgment, this is the extent of discount you are entitled to.
Based on the matters aforesaid, I sentence you to 20 months’ imprisonment.