On the material day, the defendant was intercepted by police officers outside his residence. 120 grammes of ketamine and 1.32 grammes of cocaine were found from a plastic bag carried by the defendant at the time. Inside his residence, a further 214 grammes of ketamine was found by the police. The street value of all the ketamine seized was estimated to be over 50,000 Hong Kong dollars.
The defendant admitted in his record of interview that for financial gain he agreed to repackage and deliver drugs for others.
The defendant is only 18 and has as clear record.
In view of the above, I adjourned his sentence pending a background report.
The background report shows that the defendant grew up in a broken family. Parents divorced when he was 5. When the defendant was in secondary school, he started to mingle with dubious people with triad backgrounds. Like many youngsters we see in the juvenile court, soon the defendant was recruited to engage in various criminal activities.
In the course of the mitigation, letters from family members and friends were submitted. Naturally, they ask for leniency from this court.
I can understand their request, but my hands are tied by the decision of the higher court. Although the defendant is young, he can hardly be described as an extreme youth.
Guidelines on sentencing are clear.
Since the amount of cocaine seized in this case is small, for the purpose of sentencing, it can safely be ignored.
For Count 1, in view of the quantity of ketamine seized, the starting point will be fixed at 7 years’ imprisonment. Because of his plea, the sentence will be reduced to 56 months.
For Count 2, in view of the quantity of ketamine seized, the starting point will be fixed at 8 years’ imprisonment. Because of his plea, the sentence will be reduced to one of 64 months.
In view of the total quantity seized, I order 8 months of Count 1 to be served consecutively to the 64 months imposed on Count 2.
In conclusion, the defendant will serve a total of 6 years’ imprisonment for the offences which he had committed.