The facts are that he was intercepted by the police as he was about to enter Room 1106 in a housing estate. Using the keys found on him, the police officers then gained access to the premises and, on a table in the living room, was found an electronic scale, a large plastic box containing the drugs, a bundle of unused resealable transparent plastic bags, a spoon, a lighter and two moisture-proof boxes.
Under caution, the accused admitted that he was going to sell the drugs to make money. The estimated retail value of the ketamine and the "Ice" amounted, in total, to about HK$189,400.
In a subsequent recorded interview, the defendant alleged that he had bought the drugs on 13 June 2013, about two days prior to his arrest, for $50,000 and he was also given the packaging paraphernalia at the same time and he brought the drugs to the premises and it was to repackage them into smaller bags, intending to sell them at pubs in Tsuen Wan.
The defendant is not a stranger to the court. He has some five previous convictions, three are dangerous drug-related. He committed this present offence whilst on bail for the offence of possession of dangerous drug in July 2013, when he was sentenced to a drug addiction treatment centre.
The defendant is aged 24 and has a rather unremarkable background. Miss Wong has very diligently prepared his mitigation and has said everything she could possibly say on his behalf. He came from a, as Miss Wong put it, a grass-roots family. His family was mainly supported by his mother. In mitigation, Miss Wong said that she was told that the defendant wanted to make quick money to help his family and had not sold the drugs to anyone at the time of his arrest; he is fully remorseful and said so in a letter addressed to this court and that he made a full confession to the police which is an indication of his remorse.
Also as part of the mitigation, Miss Wong also said the defendant said he would take some of the drugs for his own consumption and that the defendant had started taking ketamine at the age of 16 and had graduated to taking "Ice". The background, as I have said, of the defendant is unremarkable. The only mitigating factor is the defendant’s plea, early plea.
As Miss Wong has so correctly identified, the sentencing should follow the combined approach which is indicated in the case of Hong Kong SAR v Wong Kin Kau, CACC 269/2009. I consider that, as Miss Wong suggested, the 420 grammes of ketamine would roughly equal to 84 grammes of "Ice" which would give a notional aggregate quantity of 243 grammes of "Ice" in this case. As correctly worked out by Miss Wong, the starting point should be in the region of 13 years.
I do take into account that possibly the defendant would be tempted to take some of the drugs for his own consumption but I do not think a lot of it would be for his own consumption as he is unemployed and could hardly afford to take more than usual. So I will give him 1 year off from the starting point of 13 years to take into account that some of it, a small part of it, was for his own consumption.
But we must not forget that possession of dangerous drugs carries with it imprisonment. Also, I do take into account the fact that he had committed this present offence whilst on bail for another offence which was one of possession of dangerous drugs.
So having deducted 1 year off the starting point, it gives us 12 years as a starting point and, giving him one-third off for his remorse in pleading guilty, he would go to prison for 8 years.
So the defendant will go to prison for 8 years.