COURT: The defendant pleads guilty to one charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs contrary section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134. He checked into a hotel room and bought the drugs in question intending to sell to others to make some money.
Police raided the room, found the drugs and the paraphernalia for trafficking such as piles of empty resealable plastic bags, plastic spoons, notebook, and an electronic scale.
The drugs were cocaine, ketamine, 5-MeO-DiPT, “Ice”, herbal cannabis. Under caution he admitted that he bought all the drugs from a male person for HK$10,000 and intended to sell and pack those drugs to make a profit.
Upon analysis, the drugs were found to be in the details as particularised in the charge and for purpose of sentencing the subtotal of the weight of the various drugs are as follows: 0.09 grammes of cocaine, 16.88 grammes of ketamine, 0.47 grammes of 5-MeO-DiPT, 16.70 grammes of “Ice”, 2.29 grammes of herbal cannabis.
The defendant is now aged 26. He has two previous convictions in 2005 for assisting in the management of a vice establishment and 2010 for possession of dangerous drugs. He has received a Community Service Order and probation accordingly.
By way of mitigation, I am told that the defendant has attained Form 5 education and had tried to run a business back in 2010 to 2011 but failed. He was heavily in debt which drove him to consume drugs and end up with trafficking in drugs to make quick money, both to feed his own addiction and to repay his debt.
In sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account the facts of the present case, the drugs involved and the sentencing tariff. I first look at the two predominant drugs in question, namely, 16.70 grammes of “Ice” and 16.88 grammes of ketamine, the narcotics of those two predominant drugs weighing 33.58 grammes. The value of all the drugs is around $18,000.
Had those all been “Ice” it would be under the bracket of 10 to 70 grammes with a starting point of approximately 8½ years, and had they all been ketamine it would be under the bracket of 4 to 6 years with a starting point of around 5 years. As each is of very similar quantity, I take the mean average of 6.75 years and also taking into account of other drugs of relatively small quantity, I shall make the appropriate adjustment and adopt an overall starting point of 7½ years.
Whilst counsel urges me that some small part of the drugs were for his on consumption I simply cannot give further discount as there are no discernible separate parcels which points to that direction.
The defendant is entitled to the full one-third discount for his guilty plea and is sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment.