COURT: Mr Kilima and Miss Bwanga, the evils of the international trade in dangerous drugs are well known, and I do not propose to reiterate them this morning.
The two of you took part in this enterprise willingly, and the two of you took the gamble that you would not be found out.
You will have been told by your counsel, who are both very experienced practitioners, that Hong Kong treats dangerous drug smuggling very seriously. Your counsel will have told you that there are clear guidelines, that are based on the weight of the dangerous drugs trafficked in, laid down for all judges and magistrates in Hong Kong as to how we should sentence people who traffic in dangerous drugs.
You will also have been told that judges are expected to stick to those guidelines unless there are good reasons not to do so, and there are no good reasons in either of your cases.
The fact that you both took part in a smuggling operation importing dangerous drugs into Hong Kong, you, Mr Kilima, as the actual smuggler, and you, Miss Bwanga, as the Hong Kong receiver of the drugs and the paymaster, is an aggravating factor requiring me to increase your sentences above the level they would have been had you both been concerned in trafficking in the drugs within Hong Kong itself.
As your counsel appreciates - they make it quite clear in their addresses to me this morning - there is nothing in your personal circumstances which is of mitigating value.
I am aware that both of you are from Tanzania, and I want to say this. It is a sad fact - in fact, it is a very sad fact - that in recent years there have been many cases in Hong Kong of trafficking in dangerous drugs by smuggling, often in the most ingenious ways, committed by young men and women who are, as you both are, of previous good character, and who, as I am sure you both do, come from good family backgrounds.
These are young people who have come from the emergent economies of Africa and Central and South America, and in those cases, the reasons why such people choose to become involved are often heart rendering. But the fact, nevertheless, remains that no matter how hard the economic circumstances are in their native countries, and no matter how hard it is for educated young people to find rewarding employment in their native countries, those who choose to become involved in smuggling dangerous drugs do so because they have chosen to do so. They have chosen to become involved in this filthy and evil trade. And I, as a judge of Hong Kong, as indeed do all judges of Hong Kong, have to bear in mind that there are thousands, if not millions, of people of a similar background with similar aspirations and hopes back in their native countries who do not make that choice, but stay there and get on with their lives as best they can.
Your most powerful mitigation, the most powerful mitigation the two of you have, is that you have both pleaded guilty to your offences. That indicates realism on your part, and realism itself is indicative of some degree of remorse, and both of you will receive recognition for your pleas of guilty.
In your case, Mr Kilima, you assisted the Customs & Excise Department by leading them to find your contact in Hong Kong, Miss Bwanga; and had she maintained her initial plea of not guilty, I am told that you would have been prepared to testify against her.
It has long been the policy of the criminal law to encourage criminals to inform upon one another, and your co‑operation, Mr Kilima, with the authorities will be dealt with by way of a further reduction of sentence.
Although you, Miss Bwanga, are charged with conspiracy to traffic in dangerous drugs, and you, Mr Kilima, are charged with the substantive offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs, it is clear that your cases are inextricably interlinked. They relate to the same quantity of dangerous drugs, which were nearly one kilogram of a mixture which had an active content of heroin of just under half a kilogram.
I have to tell both of you that had you both maintained pleas of not guilty, had you taken the matter to trial, had you been convicted by a jury, then in both of your cases, given the amount of active heroin involved - as I have said, just under 500 grammes of that drug - and given the international aspect of this case, the fact that you are both involved in a smuggling racket, you would have been looking at sentences of imprisonment of in the region of 18 years.
I make it clear that would have been 2 years more than had the case not been one of smuggling dangerous drugs into Hong Kong.
In your case, Mr Kilima, because of your plea of guilty which, to your credit, was at the very outset of the proceedings, and because of your co-operation with the Customs & Excise Department, leading to Miss Bwanga’s arrest at the airport, I have decided that case authority permits me to reduce your sentence by as much as 50 per cent to one of 9 years’ imprisonment.
I regret to say, Miss Bwanga, in your case, that I cannot be so lenient. I am giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, even though it came very late in the day, and I am giving you a discount in your sentence of one-third to reflect that plea of guilty.
Your sentence is one of 12 years’ imprisonment.