COURT: Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to a single charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs, the particulars being that you, on 21 June of last year, at the transit area of the Arrivals Hall of Hong Kong International Airport, unlawfully trafficked in 0.74 of a kilogram of cocaine.
The Summary of Facts that you have admitted are quite straightforward and describe how, on the date in question, you were intercepted at Customs Clearance when a false compartment was discovered inside your rucksack and the drugs being the subject matter of the charge were revealed.
You are 37 years of age, a Colombian national, and I am told agreed to convey the drugs to Macau in return for a reward of US$9,000 due to the fact that you had fallen into financial difficulties.
In sentencing you, I take into account all that has been said on your behalf by your counsel, but the reality is that the only real mitigation here is your plea of guilty for which I will give you full credit. I am aware of your medical problems but this does not amount to any mitigation and you can rest assured that the authorities will afford you every assistance with regard to these problems.
The case of HKSAR v Abdallah Anwar Abbas, Criminal Appeal No 304/2004, has laid down guidelines in terms of sentence for trafficking in quantities of cocaine and the starting point for trafficking in between 600 to 1,200 grammes falls between 20 to 23 years’ imprisonment.
In this case, the court is concerned with 740 grammes and, accordingly, I propose to adopt a starting point of 20 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
Due to the aggravating feature of the international element, I will enhance this sentence by 1 year to take account of this, coming to a sentence of 21½ years’ imprisonment.
To reflect your plea of guilty, I will give you the full one-third discount, arriving at a sentence of 14 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.