HKSAR v. Hui Shing Tin

DCCC 385/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 385 OF 2013

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 21.01 grammes of ketamine.

2.On 8 October 2012 at 6.53 pm plainclothes officers saw the defendant acting suspiciously in the vicinity of Hing Fat House in Yuen Long.

3.The defendant went into the male toilet of a McDonald’s restaurant on the second floor of the building, where he was approached by the police who revealed their identities.  The defendant struggled with the officers and had to be restrained.

4.A transparent plastic bag containing 20 smaller plastic bags containing the drugs the subject of the charge were found in the defendant’s right hand.  He claimed that they were for his own consumption.

5.The defendant at the time had cash with him of $1,600 and a mobile phone.

6.The defendant, under caution, told the police that he had bought the drugs from a person called “Sai Chan” for $2,000.  He said he had just got his salary and bought ketamine for a lower price.  The street value of the drugs is $2,9747.14.

7.The defendant has been before the court, at the time of the commission of the offence, on three previous occasions: 

(1) in October of 2009 for possession of dangerous drugs, he was placed on probation;

(2) a few months later, he appeared back before the court for a breach of that order and it was extended to 21 months;

(3) in May 2011, for a further breach of the probation order, he was ordered to go to a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.

8.Having been arrested for this offence in October 12, he was arrested for another matter of possession of dangerous drugs and appeared before the courts in May 2013 and was ordered to go to the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre.

9.I am told that the defendant is now 23 years of age.  He was born in China and came to Hong Kong in 1997.  At the time of the commission of the offence, he was working as a construction worker earning some $11,000 a month.

10.The defendant is a drug addict and, at the time of the offence, was living alone in premises in Yuen Long.  After he was arrested for this offence, he went to live with his mother and youngest sister.

11.The defendant has written a letter to the court expressing his regret and remorse for the commission of the present offence. He says that he now regrets his actions and the anxiety he has caused to his loving and supportive family.  He says that he is now fully committed to becoming a better and law-abiding citizen.

12.The only mitigation in this case is that the defendant has pleaded guilty to the charge. 

13.As the counsel has said, the sentence for possession of this quantity of drugs is a sentence of between 4 and 6 years.

14.The starting point for this particular offence, given the quantity, should be 4 years 6 months’ imprisonment.

15.I take that sentence as a starting point and reduce it by one-third to reflect his guilty plea.

16.The defendant will, therefore, go to prison for 3 years.