CRIMINAL CASE NO. 266 OF 2011
COURT: I am going to announce my sentence. You may remain seated.
Defendant, you were convicted upon your guilty plea of one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug.
In sentencing I have considered the whole circumstances of the case, including its nature and facts, in particular the nature and quantity of the dangerous drug concerned, your background and mitigation put forward on your behalf.
The facts of the case are simple and straightforward. They may be summarised as follows. On 25 February 2011 you boarded a flight in Accra, Ghana and flew to Addis Ababa. On the following day from there you flew to Hong Kong. You were booked to fly from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the 27th.
Upon your arrival in Hong Kong you were stopped by Customs officers in the transit area in the Hong Kong International Airport and were then taken to identify a suitcase which you had checked in to be conveyed from Accra through to Phnom Penh.
The suitcase was examined in your presence. It was locked by a padlock. You possessed the keys which could open the padlock. When the suitcase was opened a package wrapped in brown plastic paper was found concealed underneath the cloth at the bottom of the case.
The package contained a crystalline substance which was later confirmed to be 3.94 kilogrammes of a crystalline solid containing 3.81 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as “Ice”. The street value in Hong Kong of the drug was about HK$$2.5 million.
I was told that you are a Malaysian citizen now 30 years of age. You do not have any conviction record in Hong Kong or anywhere else. I was also told that you had practised as a nurse in Malaysia for about seven years earning steady income.
In mitigation your counsel told me that you had been lured to go to Ghana to visit the family of a man who led you to the belief that you were going to get married with him. There, initially unbeknown to you, the dangerous drug was concealed in your suitcase.
Whilst eventually you came to know of the existence of the drug you had only become involved as an unwilling participant to this unlawful drug trafficking exercise. I was told that you did not do so because of any financial reward. You were doing this on the false premises that you were helping a man you were to marry.
Your counsel urged me to take into account your personal background, special circumstances leading to your involvement in this crime, the fact that the drug was never intended to be distributed in Hong Kong, and the difficulty you might face when serving the sentence as a foreigner.
The Court of Appeal held in AG v Ching Kwok Hung [1991] 2 HKLR 125 that in a case of trafficking in “Ice” where the narcotic content was over 600 grammes the sentence should range from 18 years upwards. I have also had regard to cases including HKSAR v An Unknown Person alias Stojanovic Milka and Skoplijak Sara CACC110/2010, and HKSAR v Lee Sin Seang CACC341/2010 and the cases quoted in these cases.
I have to take into account the international element in the case. The facts clearly show that you were a courier for the international drug trade. For this aggravating feature I am of the view that the starting point should be enhanced by about 18 months.
I accept that the dangerous drug was not intended to be spread in Hong Kong. In this regard I note Silk VP has said in AG v Pedro Nel Rojas CAAR15/1993 that the fact that the respondent did not intend to spread the drugs in Hong Kong was irrelevant.
To consider as mitigation that they were not intended for local consumption is to ignore the international aspect of the drug trafficking trade.
Having considered the whole circumstances, in my judgment an ultimate starting point of 22 years is appropriate. You are entitled to a one‑third discount for your guilty plea, your previous clear record and the remorse you have expressed.
Having considered the whole circumstances including what learned counsel said ably on your behalf I am of the view that this is the extent of discount you are entitled to.
As Madam Chu J, as Chu JA then was, said in HKSAR v Lee Sin Seang CACC341/2010, in serious offences like trafficking in dangerous drugs the personal circumstances of the accused, including the inconvenience of a foreigner serving a sentence in the local prison will play little part in mitigation.
This view about foreigners serving an imprisonment term in Hong Kong was echoed by Madam Justice Kwan JA in the recent case of HKSAR v Corredor Medina & Anor CACC296/2007.
You are sentenced to an imprisonment term of 14½ years.