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HCCC7/2011
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 7 OF 2011
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Date:
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25 February 2011 at 9.48 am
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Present:
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Mr Kuan Bak-on, SPP (Acting), of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Miss Diane M Crebbin, instructed by Messrs Haldanes, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, for the Accused
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Offence:
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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: The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely, 0.59 of a kilogram of heroin hydrochloride and 0.36 of a kilogram of monoacetylmorphine hydrochloride, a salt of an ester of morphine, by pure narcotic content.
The facts of the case are simple. The defendant was stopped by Customs officers upon arriving from Bangkok by air. Suspected to be “a body packer,” the defendant was taken to hospital where he eventually discharged the drug in question in 87 pellets. Under caution, he admitted ingesting the drug in Thailand.
The defendant is aged 38 and a national of Guinea Bissau. He has no criminal record in Hong Kong. Otherwise little is known about his background which, on paper, appears unremarkable.
In mitigation, it was said that the defendant committed the present offence unplanned and because of the desperate need for money when approached by a stranger in Bangkok while on a business trip.
Given the quantity of the drug in question, the correct starting point for this case is, I believe, one of 21 years. Because this is an importation case, it will be increased by 1 year. For the guilty plea, it will then be reduced by one-third to 14 years and 8 months. There being no other real mitigating factor, that is the sentence I pass on the defendant.
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