A A
DCCC744/2011
B IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE B
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 744 OF 2011
C C
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D D
HKSAR
E v. E
So Tsz-hin
F F
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G G
Before: H H Judge Geiser
Date: 21 September 2011 at 10.47 am
H Present: Ms Chan Sze-yan, PP of the Department of Justice, for H
HKSAR
Mr Patrick Chu, of Messrs WT Law Offices, assigned by
I the Director of Legal Aid, for the Defendant I
Offence: (1) Possession of a dangerous drug (管有危險藥物)
J (2) Resisting a police officer in the execution of his J
duty (抗拒執行職責的警務人員)
K --------------------- K
L Reasons for Sentence L
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M M
1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of
N N
possession of a dangerous drug, contrary to section 8(1)(a) and
O (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 134, Laws of O
Hong Kong, the particulars being that you on 23 February of this
P year had in your possession 23.9 grammes of a powder containing P
17.90 grammes of ketamine. In addition, you have also pleaded
Q Q
guilty to a charge of resisting a police officer acting in the
due execution of his duty, contrary to section 63 of the Police
R R
Force Ordinance, Chapter 232, Laws of Hong Kong.
S S
2. The amended Summary of Facts which you have agreed
T quite simply establish that in the late evening of 23 February T
of this year, officers on anti-dangerous-drugs patrol saw you
U U
about to enter the premises named in Charge 1. They intercepted
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A A
you, revealed their identities which resulted in a commotion, in
the course of which you struggled with the officers, refusing to
B B
be subdued despite repeated warnings, leading to you being
C charged with the offence named in Charge 2. C
D 3. Upon entry into the premises, you were searched, and D
inside the right pocket of your jacket, two plastic bags
E E
containing the drugs, being the subject matter of Charge 1, were
found. You told the police at the time that the ketamine was
F F
for your own consumption.
G G
4. You are 18 years of age and already have a poor
H criminal record which includes offences of theft, robbery, and H
yesterday you appeared before Kowloon City Magistrates and were
I I
sent to a drug addiction treatment centre in relation to another
charge of possession of ketamine which occurred in January of
J J
this year.
K K
5. I have had the benefit of reading the further
L probation officer’s report and the drug addiction treatment L
centre report which were before the learned magistrate yesterday
M prior to sentencing. You are a drug dependent and it is of M
course on that basis that the magistrate sentenced you to a drug
N N
addiction treatment centre.
O O
6. The probation report is very poor. You are described
P as being rebellious and wayward, and you have, in the opinion of P
the probation officer at least, shown no proper remorse for
Q repeatedly breaking the law. In addition, it is said that you Q
told the probation officer that you had taken ketamine as
R R
recently as 5 September of this year in order to enhance your
chances of going to a drug addiction treatment centre. This is
S S
of course an aggravating feature as it is clearly a fact that
T the present two offences for which you today appear before this T
court were committed whilst you were on bail in relation to the
U previous charge of possession of dangerous drugs. U
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A A
7. You must be very clear in your own mind that this
B B
court would be perfectly entitled to consider a sentence of
C somewhere in the region of 18 months’ imprisonment in respect of C
the two charges for which you appear before me. However,
D despite all of this, you are still relatively young, only 18, in D
need of drug treatment and have already spent some seven months
E E
or so behind bars on remand prior to you being put on bail.
F F
8. This is very much of a borderline case, but I have
G decided, despite the aggravating features that I have mentioned, G
to take an exceptional course and not send you to prison today.
H I take this course in the hope that you will be fully aware that H
you are most unlikely to be given similar chances in the future.
I I
9. With regard to Charge 1, I make a DATC order to run
J J
concurrently with the order made yesterday on 20 September 2011
K
in KCCC784 of 2011. I record the conviction. K
L 10. With regard to Charge 2, you will be fined $3,000. L
Such sum can, I take it, be taken out of your bail.
M M
N N
O O
H H Judge Geiser
P District Judge P
Q Q
R R
S S
T T
U U
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