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HCCC 179/2013
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 179 OF 2013
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HKSAR |
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Gyellah Peter George |
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| Date: |
8 August 2013 at 4.13 pm |
| Present: |
Mr Richard Donald, on fiat, for HKSAR |
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Mr Maurice Peter Tracy, instructed by Tang, Wong & Cheung, 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: Defendant, you have been convicted after trial by the jury of a single offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134, Laws of Hong Kong, in that on 22 November of last year at Hong Kong International Airport you unlawfully trafficked in 0.96 kilogram of a mixture containing 0.45 kilogram of heroin hydrochloride.
You had ingested 77 pellets containing the drugs being the subject matter of the charge in Addis Ababa and imported them from there to Hong Kong, arriving on a flight from Kilimanjaro Mountain International Airport. You did this for a reward of US$5,000, and the drugs are worth a sum of $861,120.
As your counsel has said, your involvement in this illicit activity is a personal tragedy for you. You are young, intelligent, and appear, from the evidence, to be quite successful in the clothing trade. You have a young son who now will be fatherless for a considerable period of time.
However, the offence that you have committed is a wicked offence which, had you been successful in disposing of the drugs in Hong Kong, would have brought personal tragedy to others who themselves fall prey to drug abuse in one form or another.
There is also an aggravating feature here, being the international element, as these drugs were imported by yourself into Hong Kong from overseas.
The case of R v Lau Tak Ming and Others [1992] HKLR 370 has set down guidelines for sentence in relation to trafficking in heroin, and for trafficking in between 400 to 600 grammes, the relevant starting point falls between 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment.
In this case, the court is dealing with 450 grammes of narcotic. Accordingly, I adopt a starting point of 15½ years’ imprisonment. I will enhance this sentence by 1 year to take account of the aggravating feature that I have identified, arriving at a total sentence of 16½ years’ imprisonment.
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