HKSAR v. ONYEKWELU NHLANHLA DOROTHY

HCCC27/2012

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 27 OF 2012

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

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COURT: Dorothy Onyekwelu, the dangers caused throughout the world by dangerous drugs, particularly cocaine, are well-known and I do not propose to say any more about that.

The truth of the matter is that you willingly lent your aid to this filthy trade of trafficking in dangerous drugs. You took the risk of being caught and it is your misfortune that you were in fact caught. The fact that you were bringing these drugs into Hong Kong from Brazil adds an international aspect to your case which, regrettably, goes to aggravate your offence.

I have to say there is nothing in your personal circumstances or the circumstances of commission of the offence which I find to be of mitigating value. I accept that you did this because you hoped or wanted to raise money to buy medicine for your sister and her child. I have to bear in mind, however, that there are many people not only in South Africa but throughout the world who are suffering from the same illness that they suffer from and yet they and their families do not resort to international drug trafficking to assist them with their medical problems.

Your mitigation lies in the fact that you have pleaded guilty to this offence at the earliest opportunity and also to a very small degree in the fact that, so far as is known, you have no criminal record.

The fact that you pleaded guilty before the magistrate is an indication of realism and realism is always taken as a sign of remorse, and you will receive the appropriate recognition for that realism and remorse in your sentence.

Miss See, the lady barrister who represents you, will have told you that there are guidelines set down for my guidance, and indeed the guidance of all the judges of the courts in Hong Kong, as to how we should sentence people who traffic in dangerous drugs. Miss See will also have told you that we are expected to stick to those guidelines unless there are very strong reasons for us not to do so. I have to tell you that in your case there are no strong reasons justifying me in departing from those guidelines.

You will also have been told by Miss See that the international aspect of this case, the fact that you sought to bring a very large quantity of cocaine into Hong Kong, is an aggravating factor that must increase the sentence that I have to pass upon you.

I have to tell you that had you contested this matter, had you pleaded not guilty, had the matter gone to trial, had a jury found you guilty of this offence, then given the international aspect of the case, given the quantity of drugs involved, you would have been facing a sentence of 23 years’ imprisonment. Because of your plea of guilty, and to a very small extent because of your known clear record, I am permitted to reduce that sentence somewhat. And I am reducing it from a sentence of 23 years’ imprisonment to a sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, which is a discount of slightly more than one-third.

So your sentence, therefore, is one of 15 years’ imprisonment.