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HCCC 500/2014
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 500 OF 2014
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HKSAR |
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MUNOZ BEDOYA Jhon Fredy |
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| Before: |
DHCJ Campbell-Moffat |
| Date: |
13 July 2015 at 3.20 pm |
| Present: |
Mr Jeffrey G Fenton, on fiat, for HKSAR |
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Mr Robert J H Tibbo, instructed by Massie & Clement, assigned by DLA, for the accused |
| Offence: |
Trafficking in a dangerous drug (販運危險藥物) |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: Mr Munoz, you have pleaded guilty and stand convicted
of
one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section
4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134.
The Summary of Facts in this case is in fact a bare outline of the circumstances of your offending and in line with Regina v James Philip Cairns & Others [2013] 2 Crim App R(S) at page 73, the basis upon which I intend to sentence you is contained in the prosecution papers in this case and you indicated at the time of plea that you had no objection to that course.
The drugs that you trafficked were 2,006.29 grammes of cocaine. The circumstances of that offending were that you were intercepted within the Customs Arrival Hall of Chek Lap Kok Airport on 30 April 2014, having arrived upon a South African Airways flight from Johannesburg, via Brazil, from Bogota in Colombia.
You are a Colombian national. As I understand it, you have never been to Hong Kong before. The drugs that you carried in were in a liquid paste form and concealed most professionally inside six tinfoil packets of tomato-flavoured sauce, which we can see in the photographic exhibits and which were inside your rucksack.
In interview, you said you were a construction worker earning US$400 per month, but you were paid US$5,000 to bring the drugs into Hong Kong. That money, at the time of your interview, you said you had hoped would be used to start a business.
The retail value of what you imported into this country is said to be HK$2,765,317-odd.
On your behalf, counsel has urged upon me your family circumstances back in Colombia, the fact that both your father and your mother have been unwell and that, unfortunately, your mother has only recently passed away, in March of this year. He also tells me that your wife suffers from dizziness and I can see, certainly, that there appears to be family history on her side of the family of hypertension.
In any event, he submits, she is not fully fit, and you have a daughter who is still only 8 years of age and who will be without her father for a very long time, and a wife who must raise that daughter on her own. He urges me to consider that this offence was completely out of character and that if it had not been for the continuing ill health of your mother, you would not have committed it.
Mr Munoz, the courts in Hong Kong have been dealing with the issue of the international importation of dangerous drugs for very many years and they see fit to revisit this very grave offence from time to time in order to ensure that its approach is commensurate with the gravity of the offending and the harm to society which it does. The courts of Hong Kong take a very dim view of the importation of drugs and as a consequence, the guidelines set out for the assistance of the High Court indicate that only a heavy sentence will follow.
For the importation of 2,006.29 grammes of cocaine, in accordance with the guidelines set out in HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 3 HKLRD 437, the guideline starting point for trafficking, after trial, between 1,200 and 4,000 grammes is 23 to 26 years. The appropriate starting point is therefore 24 years’ imprisonment.
There is also a significant aggravating feature because you brought these drugs into this country from abroad and for that international element to this offending, I enhance your sentence by 2 years.
I have taken into account all that counsel has urged upon your behalf, the fact that you have no previous record in Hong Kong, your maturity and that you will be serving a significant sentence a long way from home and your family, but these factors alone cannot reduce the sentence I have already indicated as this is a serious crime for which a deterrent sentence is required and only the most exceptional proven personal circumstances will reduce the sentence below the guideline which I have mentioned.
But I have read your letter that you have submitted to the court and note the fact that you are clearly remorseful and have taken steps to show that remorse and that those steps have been urged upon me.
Giving you a full one-third discount for plea, even though, in my view, your plea was entered at quite a late stage in the proceeding, and taking into consideration all other matters, you will go to prison for a period of 17 years.
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