COURT: Defendant, you appear in this court today for sentence, having pleaded guilty in the court below to trafficking in 1.7 kilogrammes of ketamine, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
The summary of facts, which you have this morning confirmed, established that in the late evening of 19 March of this year, you were intercepted by the police, sitting in the rear seat of a parked taxi acting suspiciously. You were seen to be holding two plastic bags which, upon search, they discovered 10 further plastic bags containing the drugs, being the subject matter of the charge. You told the police that a person called Ah Nam had asked you to deliver the drugs to various places and you were to receive $1,200 dollars for every four bags that you delivered.
You are 21 years of age. This is not the first time that you have involved yourself in trafficking in drugs. In November of 2009, you were sent to a drug addiction treatment centre also for an offence of trafficking.
I have had read to me the letter that you have written to the court expressing remorse for committing this offence and I am told in mitigation that the reason that you got involved in this nefarious trade was because you became unemployed at the end of last year, you borrowed money from others in order to continue to support your grandmother, became unable to repay your debts and stupidly committed the offence in order to earn fast money.
In sentencing you, I take account of all that has been said on your behalf, but the only real mitigation here is your plea of guilty and I will give you the appropriate discount in sentence to reflect this.
The sentencing guidelines for trafficking in ketamine can be found in SJ v Hii Siew Cheng [2008] HKCA 200, and for trafficking in over 1,000 grammes, the starting point for sentence after trial is 14 years imprisonment upwards. In this case, the court is dealing with 1,700 grammes, that’s 1.7 kilos.
I adopt a starting point of 16 years imprisonment. I will discount this sentence by one third, to take account of your plea of guilty, coming to 10 years and 8 months imprisonment.