HKSAR v. Chu Kin Shing
|
DCCC 596/2013 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO 596 of 2013 ----------------------
----------------------
|
----------------------
Reasons for Sentence
---------------------
1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
2.On 16 April 2013 at about 10.30 pm officers intercepted you on Soy Street in Mong Kok. Upon search of you, they found a cloth bag containing 7 plastic bags which contained the drugs in question being 93.86 grammes of a powder containing 73.65 grammes of ketamine. These drugs were kept inside your trousers in the area of your crotch.
3.Under caution, you admitted that you needed to support the living of your wife and asked for a chance.
4.Police estimate that the street value of the drugs in question is $11,357.
5.Your solicitor, Mr Raymond Mok, has mitigated fully and thoroughly on your behalf and I have taken into account all that he has had to say.
6.I have also taken into account the letter written to me by your wife.
7.You are aged 25 and have one previous conviction which is now spent. That conviction was for possession of dangerous drugs to which you were sentenced to probation for 12 months in April 2009.
8.I am told that although you are married and your wife is present in court, you have been separated since November 2012. I am informed by your wife and also at the time you admitted this offence at the location you were arrested that you were committing this offence to provide a better living for your family.
9.You were previously a kitchen worker earning $13,000 a month, you had however lost your job in December 2012 and you could no longer support your wife’s living. Thus, out of greed, you committed the present offence.
10.As Mr Mok properly points out, the relevant case in sentencing for trafficking in ketamine is that of Secretary for Justice v Hii Siew Cheng. The tariff there for 50 to 300 grammes of ketamine is a sentence of 6 to 9 years’ imprisonment after trial.
11.Taking into account the quantity of drugs you had in your possession for trafficking, I consider a sentence of 6 years and 3 months to be appropriate had I convicted you after trial.
12.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty, have saved the court time and shown the court that you are remorseful for what you have done. In those circumstances, the one-third discount is clearly warranted and that term shall be reduced to one of 4 years and 2 months’ imprisonment to which you shall be so sentenced.
| (S. D’Almada Remedios) District Judge |