HKSAR v. Lui Sze Chun, Roger

HCCC 443/2012

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 443 OF 2012

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 0.98 kilograms of a powder containing 0.84 kilograms of ketamine. He has been committed to the High Court for sentencing.

The facts show that on 15 May last year he was intercepted by police officers, and inside a blue bag he was carrying were found the drugs which is the subject matter of the charge.

Under caution, the defendant admitted that he was carrying ketamine for somebody who was going to pay him $300.

The drugs had an estimated retail value in Hong Kong of $116,620.

The defendant is aged 19 and has a clear record in Hong Kong. According to the mitigation that Mr Fu advanced on his behalf, the defendant was living with his mother in South Africa until he was aged 17, when he came back to Hong Kong. He had gone there with his mother when he was a child after his mother divorced his father.

There is also a letter from the defendant’s former employer which speaks well of him.

Trafficking in dangerous drugs is a very serious offence, and the background of the defendant, including his age, does not carry much weight, because the defendant willingly participated in transporting these drugs for money, and these drugs will eventually go on to harm many families and many young people in Hong Kong. But there is a glimmer of hope in that from the letters from his former employer and aunty, and also his mother going to settle back in Hong Kong, and his father’s concern, that the defendant still has time to better himself whilst in prison, learn a trade, and when he comes out, to be a useful member of society.

The sentencing guideline for trafficking in ketamine was laid down in the case of Hii Siew Cheng [2008] 3 HKC 323, and it is recommended that for trafficking in between 600 to 1,000 grammes of ketamine, a sentence of 12 to 14 years’ imprisonment is recommended.

In the present charge there was a total of 840 grammes of ketamine, which would fall for a starting point sentence of 13 to 13½ years.

I will take the lower starting point of 13 years, and giving the defendant the full discount of one-third, he will be sentenced therefore to 8 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.