HKSAR v. AN UNKNOWN PERSON alias STOJANOVIC MILKA and SKOPLJAK SARA

HCCC246/2009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 246 OF 2009

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: The 22-year-old defendant pleaded guilty before me to an offence of trafficking in 1,484.01 grammes of ice, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, to making a false representation to an immigration officer, contrary to section 42(1)(a) of the Immigration Ordinance, and to using a forged travel document, contrary to section 42(2)(b) of the same Ordinance.

The facts of the case were that on 4 February 2009 the defendant arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on a flight from Malaysia and presented a forged document and passport to an immigration officer in order to gain admittance to Hong Kong. She was admitted as a visitor on the basis of the forged passport representing she was a person of the name Skopljak Sara. Those facts support the two immigration offences.

As the defendant walked towards the exit of the airport through the Customs section she was stopped by a Customs officer and subjected to a baggage search. In her baggage were found four bars of chocolate. Secreted inside the chocolate bars were found the drugs, the subject of the trafficking offence.

So far as the trafficking offence is concerned I take a starting point of sentence of 22 years’ imprisonment. Given the international dimension of the offence, that is enhanced to a sentence of 24 years’ imprisonment.

Mr Andrews argued that because the defendant intended to stay in Hong Kong for two days only and then go to Japan with the drugs, a bare proposition for which unsurprisingly he had no proof, the aggravating aspect of the international dimension in this case was lessened. In my view, that is not so. The bringing of drugs into Hong Kong is, of itself, an aggravating factor.

Allowing for the only substantial mitigation advanced on behalf of the defendant, namely, her plea of guilty, that starting point of sentence is reduced to a sentence of 16 years’ imprisonment.

So far as the two immigration sentences are concerned, I take a starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment for each. The same mitigating factor reduces the sentence in respect of each to 8 months’ imprisonment. I order that all sentences be served concurrently except that 6 months of the sentence imposed in respect of the forged travel document offence, that is the 3rd count on the indictment, be served consecutively to the sentence imposed in respect of the trafficking offence; that is, the 1st count on the indictment. That is a total sentence of 16 years 6 months’ imprisonment.