HKSAR v. AKONGO WINTER ANYANGO

HCCC 441/2016

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 441 OF 2016

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: The defendant had pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug in the Magistrates Court, namely 338 grammes of a solid containing 268 grammes of cocaine. She has been committed to this court for sentencing.

The facts are all too familiar to this court. The defendant is a 32-year-old Kenyan female and she arrived in Hong Kong on 10 May 2016. She was, upon examination at North Lantau Hospital, found to have two pellets of cocaine concealed in her vagina. During her stay in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, she discharged altogether 21 pellets of cocaine. All the pellets were subsequently examined and found to contain the amount of drugs in the charge.

Under caution, the defendant said that her purpose coming to Hong Kong was to bring something for someone called Vitalis and that this person Vitalis had informed her, on 5 May 2016, that if she brought the things for him, he would arrange for the whole trip and pay her a large amount of money afterwards. So therefore, in Dubai, she said she was given 24 pellets and she was asked to put them in her anus and bring them to this person called Vitalis.

The retail value of the dangerous drugs seized is in the region of HK$358,618.

The defendant is aged 33 and has a clear record in Hong Kong. She is a Kenyan national and I am informed that she has left behind a 10-year-old son in Kenya and her father is a farmer, and that prior to her coming to Hong Kong, the defendant was involved in a Kenyan aid group for AIDS because of the fact that her father had AIDS and so she was a volunteer to help others.

Mr Percy also informed the court that according to the court papers, inspector Tsang’s statement had said that he had received information from his counterpart overseas that the defendant would be arriving on the day of her arrest. So clearly, the defendant was a target. Be that as it may, it is not a mitigation. The authorities in Hong Kong, as similar to the authorities all over the world, are fighting a constant battle against drug traffickers and co-operation is necessary internationally to stop this evil trade.

In mitigation, Mr Percy had referred to the letter of Father Wotherspoon who is well known to these courts as he has been leading a campaign for many years to educate people overseas, particularly in the African countries and South American countries, about the consequences of trafficking drugs to Hong Kong. I have no doubt that this education that he does through blogs and the internet has met with some success in that it would cause people who would otherwise be tempted, to think twice about coming to Hong Kong with drugs because of our heavy sentences.

Father Wotherspoon, in his letter, had also referred to the fact that the defendant in this case had actively supported his campaign to stop drug mules coming to Hong Kong from Kenya and that some information had been provided by her to expose, he says, and stop a group of drug lords operating in Guangzhou and Kenya and that this group is led by a Kenyan woman named Sharron who is responsible for many women being imprisoned in Hong Kong. Father Wotherspoon alleges that this Sharron is based in Guangzhou and has been using contacts in Kenya, especially two persons named Lucy and Phoebe, to recruit mules to Hong Kong.

Apparently, according to Father Wotherspoon, this particular defendant provided valuable information, the full name and details of Phoebe which he was able to post on the internet and send to media in Kenya. He attaches the photograph of Phoebe which was obtained from a dating site. He asserts in his letter that as a result of this action, Sharron has to cancel her plan for 10 women to come to Hong Kong and Father Wotherspoon submits in his letter that the defendant had played a part in this success.

He also listed out what he is currently doing in negotiation with the Security Bureau about the executive policy decision about inmates qualifying for mitigation for helping his campaign. I suspect that it would be some time yet before it bears fruit because the first meeting was only held at the end of November of this year.

He also says that Madam Justice Barnes had established an inquiry into the effectiveness of his campaign. Again, I cannot, on the basis of that, consider or anticipate what the result of that inquiry will be and how it will help this present defendant. It is early days yet and as I indicated to Mr Percy, no doubt, if there is some matters which would bear fruit, then this can be brought up in another court. However, I do accept the contribution that Father Wotherspoon has said that this defendant had done in his campaign.

Mr Percy has rightly submitted that for this amount of cocaine, the sentencing guideline would be, as recommended in Lau Tak Ming, would be 200 grammes to 400 grammes would merit a sentence of 12 to 15 years. In this case, 268 grammes would give us a guideline sentence really of 12 years’ starting point.

As for the enhancement for the international element, again, it would, because of the amount in this case, it would fall in the region of between 6 months to a year. As I said, I do accept that according to Father Wotherspoon’s letter, this particular defendant did assist in placing the photo and the details of this person called Phoebe on the internet in Kenya and had played some part in perhaps derailing the activities of this person called Sharron. So I will therefore enhance the sentence only by 6 months.

So the starting point sentence will be 12½ years and taking into account the one-third off for the early plea, the sentence is therefore reduced to 8 years and 4 months.