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HCCC74/2010
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 74 OF 2010
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HKSAR |
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v. |
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Okafor, Peter Eric Nwabunwanne |
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| Date: |
22 November 2010 at 3.34 pm |
| Present: |
Mr Richard D Donald, on fiat, for HKSAR
Mr Andrew Bruce, SC, instructed by Messrs Tse Yuen Ting Wong, assigned by the Director of Legal Aid, 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: The defendant was charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The drug involved was heroin and the amount of narcotic was 214-odd grammes. The defendant pleaded not guilty and raised the defence of duress. However, the jury unanimously rejected that defence and found the defendant guilty.
Mr Bruce stated rightly that, for this sort of offence, the sentencing court will usually focus on the amount of drugs in deciding on the term of sentence. Considering the leading authority of Lau Tak Ming, this amount of heroin would take the case to the category of 12 to 15 years.
On the last occasion, the defendant was sentenced to 12½ years. As a matter of fact, this is the third trial the defendant had to go through. The first trial ended in a hung jury. The defendant was convicted on the second trial; however, the verdict was overturned by the Court of Appeal, hence this third trial.
In a way, I see nothing wrong with the sentence of 12½ years imposed on the last occasion, however, I tend to agree with Mr Bruce that, whatever the situation, the defendant deserves some sympathy for having to go through three trials.
Having considered the circumstances, I shall impose a term of 11½ years as the sentence for this offence.
Please refer to CACC437/2010 for the relevant appeal(s) to the Court of Appeal. |