HKSAR v Yu Siu-fung

DCCC 438/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 438 OF 2013

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Defendant, you pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug, concentrate section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. You admitted that on 19 February 2013, at Han Garden, Po On Road, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, you unlawfully trafficked in 27.06 grammes of a powder containing 22.11 grammes of ketamine.

2.  On the day in question, police officers who were on anti-crime patrol in plainclothes saw you take the two packets of drugs from your right pocket of your jacket and put them on the ground at the rockery in the garden.  You were immediately intercepted and the drugs were seized from the ground.  You were arrested and cautioned.

3.  Under caution, you alleged that the two packets of ketamine belonged to you and were for your own consumption.  You have now admitted in court that you possessed the drug for the purposes of trafficking.  The street value of the drugs was about $3,328.

4.  Prior to sentencing you, I called for a training centre report.  That report sets out your background in detail.  I have also taken into account the mitigation raised on your behalf by your solicitor, Miss Deca Lin.  You are 19 years of age and have two previous convictions.  They are both for possession of dangerous drugs, the first of which was in 2009 where you were sentenced to probation for 18 months.  Thereafter, your other conviction was on 22 April 2013 and you were sentenced to drug addiction treatment centre.

5.  The officer who assessed you for training centre says that you are not suitable for detention in a training centre as he is of the opinion that you are a drug dependent. 

6.  You have asked me through your solicitor to sentence you to DATC again.  In following the guidelines and tariffs for trafficking in dangerous drugs, a DATC order is not an option open to me.  The tariffs are clearly laid down and it follows that for trafficking in dangerous drugs, the sentence is one of an immediate sentence of imprisonment.

7.  Defendant you had committed this offence whilst you were on bail for the conviction you received in April this year.  Your lifestyle, as I can see from the report, has been one of idleness.  You have not obtained any gainful employment and associated with undesirable peers.  You have acknowledged that you have disappointed your mother and she is clearly upset by your continuous breach of the law.

8.  The guidelines for trafficking in ketamine are clearly laid down in the case of Hii Siew Cheng.  You trafficked in an amount of 22.11 grammes of ketamine.  That amount falls within the third bracket of between 10 to 50 grammes of which a starting point after trial would be one between 4 to 6 years’ imprisonment.

9.  Defendant had I convicted you after trial, I would have taken a starting point of 4 years 6 months’ imprisonment.  However, you have pleaded guilty and giving you credit for your plea you are entitled to the usual one-third discount.  In the circumstances that sentence is reduced to one of 3 years’ imprisonment to which you shall be so sentenced.