HKSAR v. NGUYEN ANH NGA

HCCC91/2011

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 91 OF 2011

-----------------

---------------------------------

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

---------------------------------

 

COURT: The jury has convicted you of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drug in question was ice and you carried into Hong Kong over 3 kilograms of it. People who traffic in dangerous drugs know what they are doing. These are not crimes of impulse. You have plenty of time to change your mind. Whatever your educational background, you cannot have been unaware of the seriousness of your conduct and the risks that you were taking. You will have known if they had have caught you in other jurisdictions in South East Asia it would not have been imprisonment that you would have been facing but the death penalty.

It was explained to you before you undertook your attempted defence that there was a discount available on the term of imprisonment you would face if you pleaded guilty and it was a very large portion of the sentence, one third. You turned your back on that. It will have been explained to you that the sentence you face is based on guidelines which are based in turn on the quantity of the drug in question. The guidelines which you fall in run, after trial, from 23 to 26 years’ imprisonment. There is the aggravation of bringing the drugs across an international border, which I have to reflect in the sentence.

The sentence I am obliged to pass on you cannot be less than 26 years.