HKSAR v. Mak Fung Yuen Vincent
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HCCC 128/2015 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO 128 OF 2015 -----------------
--------------------------------- COURT: Defendant, please stand. Defendant pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 248 grammes of a powder containing 165 grammes of ketamine. He has been committed to the Court of First Instance for sentencing. The facts are that he was stopped by police officers at about 9.10 pm last year, and on a search, from his pocket was found the drugs in this charge. He was arrested, and under caution, he admitted that he was to pass this drug to somebody else in order to earn money. In his video-recorded interview, he says that he became acquainted with a person named Poon who instructed him to collect this packet and deliver it and he would get a reward of $500 to $600. The estimated retail value of the drug is HK$34,720. It does not give me any pleasure at all to sentence the defendant, who is 16 years old, to prison. It is clear that the drug syndicate, through Poon, was using the defendant and others like him to do their dirty deeds for cheap money. However, although I can try to be lenient, I cannot encourage this, because the fight against trafficking in dangerous drugs is an ongoing process, and it gets harder and harder every day, because the drug syndicates are making use of the lure of easy money to convince and tempt young persons or the very old to carry these poisons for them. As Mr Chui has very correctly pointed out, this is a young man who does have potential, who has potential to make something of himself, and I am very comforted by the letters of the social worker, Miss Lee, Miss Leung at the vocational training college, Mr Fung from the Bradbury Hostel that the defendant is not a bad person, but due to his lack of maturity, was easily tempted. Hopefully, these years in prison will give the defendant time to nurture his interest in cooking. I understand the Correctional Services do run many courses where inmates can learn a trade before they come out. The defendant has learnt, I am sure, this time, a very sharp lesson. It is not worth losing your liberty for even a day for a few hundred dollars. You have hurt your parents. And no matter whether their skill in parenting was lacking or not, they are still parents who had taken care of you, who are working hard to make a life for you. So hopefully, now, you will start growing up. You are very lucky also in having a very caring social worker in the form of Miss Lee. She has not given up on you, despite the many cases that she has to handle, she still comes and visits you. So hopefully, in the future, you will not disappoint all these people who are concerned about you. And hopefully, when you come out, you will be able to work and eventually repay everyone who has been good to you in your life, and contribute to society. One mistake is all right, and you should not feel too ashamed. In fact, treat this as a life lesson and never give up on yourself. I have considered the guidelines, as Mr Chui has pointed out, the Court of Appeal has laid down guidelines for trafficking in ketamine in the case of SJ v Hii Siew Cheng in 2008. The case was reported in 3 HKC 323, where it was laid down that for trafficking in ketamine of between 50 to 300 grammes, the recommended sentence will be 6 to 9 years after trial. Taking into account the guidelines, I consider that the starting point in this case would be between 6 and a half to 7 years’ imprisonment. I do also accept Mr Chui’s mitigation that there are no aggravating factors in this case, and that you have shown your remorse and you have a clear record, so I will take the lower of the starting point, which is 6 and a half years, and you are entitled to the full one-third discount, which therefore will bring the sentence down to 4 years and 4 months. So this will be a time, in fact, to keep you away from the bad influence and for you to make good of the time in custody to learn the trade. | ||||||||||||||||||||||