COURT: Defendants, please stand.
Both defendants have pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 1.92 kilogrammes of a powder containing 1.28 kilogrammes of ketamine.
On 11 May last year, at about 7.52 pm, the 2nd defendant was seen alighting from a private car in Sham Shui Po. The car was then driven by the 1st defendant and he drove away after the 2nd defendant had alighted. Police stopped the car and in the car, to the right of the front passenger seat on the floor was a red paper bag containing 7 tin foil packets of ketamine.
The 1st defendant claimed, under caution, that this ketamine was taken into the car by the 2nd defendant who had got off the car for distribution. He said he was only the driver and he was expecting a reward of $3,000.
The 2nd defendant was intercepted and in his shoulder bag was found a tin foil packet containing ketamine. He was arrested and subsequently the ketamine found in the car was found to be 1.68 kilogrammes of a powder containing 1.12 kilogrammes of ketamine. The packet found on the 2nd defendant was 0.24 kilogrammes of a powder containing 0.16 kilogrammes of ketamine.
The estimated retail value of all the ketamine seized was HK$241,920.
Subsequent inquiries revealed that the 1st defendant was the registered owner of the car. And in a video-recorded interview, the 1st defendant admitted that he knew the packets of ketamine being transported in the car and that was for delivery.
The 1st defendant is aged 31 and he has previous record, minor drug record, for smoking or injecting dangerous drugs in 2007, possession of dangerous drugs in 2007 when he was fined and the last was for possession of dangerous drugs in 2010 when he was put on probation.
I am informed in mitigation by Mr Wong that the defendant was addicted to ketamine but was no longer addicted to ketamine since 2010. It is said in mitigation that he was an electrician and that his personality changed after the death of his twin brother in 2012. It does not seem fair to blame his dead twin brother for his commission of this criminal offence.
I have no doubt that the death of his brother had thrown him into depression, but my sympathy rests with the defendant’s mother who has not only to endure the death of her son, but now to endure the fact that her other son is going to be in prison. So I hope that this period in prison, since the defendant is already aged 31, that the defendant will take the time to think about what he owes his mother.
As Mr Wong correctly pointed out, the Court of Appeal has already laid down guidelines for trafficking in ketamine in the case of Hii Siew Cheng in 2009, Vol 1, HKLRD, page 1. And that it is recommended that for trafficking in ketamine for 1,000 grammes and above, a sentencing starting point of 14 years’ imprisonment and upwards, is recommended.
There is not much mitigation I can see on behalf of the 1st defendant, apart from the fact that he pleaded guilty and has saved a lot the court’s time and therefore is an indication of his remorse. He therefore deserves the usual one-third discount and so therefore, I sentence him to imprisonment for 9 years and 4 months. Please sit down.
The 2nd defendant is 30 years old and has a criminal record, and as Mr Poon says, they were for minor offences and were not drug-related. The defendant was working as a chef, I am told, and he got married in 2012 and has a daughter who was born in 2013. However, he quit his job and with a family to provide for, it was very easy for him to be tempted by easy money. Mr Poon, in mitigation says that they were only couriers and were only doing this for the reward.
It is a sad fact that in Hong Kong drug trafficking is on the rise. Public funds are being wasted in order to arrest drug traffickers, bring them to court and put them in gaol. And the fact is that the people like both defendants, tempted by the easy money, would help the distribution and this will affect the general population because people who then feed their addiction will, in order to make money to feed their addiction, commit other crimes.
So that is why the courts have to take a serious view for even drug couriers, that they be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that hopefully would deter others. So even for a person with a clear record, he will go to prison for a long time. However, I do hope, as Mr Poon has submitted, that with his family’s support, he will turn over a new leaf after he has served his time in prison.
So similarly, as for the 1st defendant, I will impose a starting point sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment and because of the plea of the defendant, indicating his remorse and saving the court’s time, the sentence is reduced by one‑third to 9 years and 4 months. All right, please sit down.