HKSAR v. Wong Chi Pui

DCCC 1053/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1053 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a single charge of “Trafficking in a Dangerous Drug”, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134, Laws of Hong Kong, the particulars being that you on 21 August 2012, at the male toilet, Block B, L3 Floor, New Town Commercial Arcade, No. 2 Tuen Lee Street, Tuen Mun, New Territories, in Hong Kong, unlawfully trafficked in 11.54 grammes of a powder containing 8.48 grammes of ketamine.

2.The Summary of Facts which you have agreed are that at around 3.29 pm on 21 August 2012, you were stopped and searched by a policeman at the male toilet named in the charge and from your front right jeans pocket found the following items:

(a) 18 transparent resealable plastic bags containing white substance suspected to be ketamine;

(b) 13 empty transparent resealable plastic bags; and

(c) a plastic spoon.

3.The suspected dangerous drugs were later sent to the government chemist for analysis and confirmed to be ketamine as particularised in the charge.  You were arrested by the police.  Under caution, you stated that you were in need of money and so you sold “K chai” to others in order to earn some money.  You also stated that you had only been selling “K chai” to others for a few days. 

4.Later, in a subsequent video-recorded interview, you also stated under caution that you purchased a big transparent plastic bag of “K chai” from a male called Ah Heng for HK$800 in Tuen Mun.  You took a spoon from a fast food restaurant and also bought some small plastic bags.  You then repacked the “K chai” with the plastic spoon into 18 plastic bags and you intended to sell those dangerous drugs to others at HK$100 per packet as you were in need of money.

5.The market value of the dangerous drugs in question was about HK$1,454.

6.At the time of this offence, you were 17 years of age.  You have been to court twice in relation to four different offences.  Earlier last year, in March, you were given a Probation Order of 12 months for offences of “Criminal Damage”, “Common Assault” and “Criminal Intimidation”.  Apparently, you did not mend your way, and in breach of the Probation, you committed a further offence of “Common Assault”.  As a result, you were sentenced in last October to the Detention Centre and your Probation Order was thereby discharged.

7.It has been urged upon me in the last occassion by your counsel that I should consider obtaining a Training Centre Report.  This I did and today I have the opportunity of reading the report. You have only attained an education level up to Form 4 and you quitted school due to poor performance in school and you had totally lost interest in the studies.  You live together with your parents and also one elder sister and two younger sisters.  Your mother is a housewife and your father is a decoration worker.  I was told that your father had suffered high blood pressure and also has a liver problem.

8.One of the reasons why you turned to drug-trafficking activity, I was told, was because of the ill-health of your father and you wanted to share the financial burden and sought to selling dangerous drugs in order to earn easy money.

9.It is however abundantly clear from reading the report that you turned to selling drugs because you were under adverse peers’ influences.  You have started sniffing ketamine in June last year and you took ketamine twice a week and spent about $100 on each occasion. To me, your turning to selling drugs is not at all surprising.  It is also one of the ways to feed your drugs habit.

10.I also note from the report that in the past, you have associated yourself with undesirable peers and some of whom were even with triad backgrounds.  You freely admitted that you became a triad follower and your involvement in some unlawful triad activities such as negotiating with rival gangs and engaging in gang fights in the past.  No wonder the reporting officer recommends a period of disciplinary training.  In the words of the officer, “in order to strengthen your law-abiding concept, another period of disciplinary training coupled with statutory supervision is considered beneficial”.

11.Trafficking in ketamine is treated extremely seriously by the courts in Hong Kong for good reason.  Its abuse amongst young people is so prevalent in Hong Kong so much so that the sentencing guideline was increased in 2008 in the case of Hii Siew Cheng [2008] 3 HKC 323 to reflect the increase in its abuse and the resulting problems associated with its abuse.

12.For trafficking in the present quantity of ketamine, some 8.48 grammes of narcotic, the recommended starting point according to the sentencing guideline would be in the region of 42 months’ imprisonment.  However, due to your age and the mitigation entered by your lawyer and also the recommendation of the report, I have decided not to impose a prison sentence. 

13.You were already sentenced to detention in a Detention Centre in October last year.  Presently, you are still undergoing training there.  According to the report, you were regarded as average in the response to the training programme in the Detention Centre. However, under intensive counselling, you were able to make adjustment to the institutional life and tune in the disciplinary training with steady progress. As far as your behaviour was concerned, you managed to behave yourself without incurring further disciplinary offence. 

14.Moreover, your family member took the trouble to pay you regular visits and thereby lending you unfailing support and comfort for your rehabilitation.  I can also see that today, a large numbers of your family members, including your sisters, father and even your grandfather, are all present in court to support you.  I was supplied with a mitigation letter written by your father in his own handwriting saying that he promised to keep a closer eye on you and to communicate better with you so as to guide you back to the right track.

15.You are said to be mentally and physically fit for detention in a Training Centre.  Because of the above reasons, I finally decided that you should be sent to the Training Centre to receive disciplinary training there.  In sentencing you, I have already taken into account all that has been said on your behalf by way of mitigation and all the information as reflected in the report and so I make the Order accordingly.