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HCCC351/2009
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO. 351 OF 2009
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HKSAR |
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v. |
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Bugingo Sweetbert Rwezaula |
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| Before: |
Deputy High Court Judge Longley |
| Date: |
21 December 2009 at 11.17 am |
| Present: |
Ms Leung Sun-yee, Rosaline, SPP of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR
Mr Rupert Spicer, instructed by Messrs Tse Yuen Ting Wong, 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: Sweetbert Rwezaula Bugingo, you have been committed to this court for sentence following your plea of guilty in the Magistrates' Court to a charge of trafficking in 1159.55 grammes of a mixture containing 756.55 grammes of heroin hydrochloride and 146.31 grammes of monoacetylmorphine hydrochloride. Those drugs were in 91 pellets which you had swallowed and were still inside your body when you arrived at the airport on a flight from Kathmandu on 27 June this year. The retail value of the drugs in Hong Kong at the time was approximately HK$637,000.
You have claimed that you had been given the pellets by a man in Kathmandu who had told you to swallow them. You were told that you would be picked up from your hotel in Hong Kong after you had arrived. Mr Spicer has told me that you were recruited to undertake this enterprise while you were still in Tanzania. Your reward would be US$4,000.
I have listened to everything that has been said on your behalf by Mr Spicer and I also take into account the letter that you have written to this court which sets out your explanation for how you became involved in this offence.
You cannot have failed to realise that very serious consequences would follow if you were caught with these drugs. Obviously you must have thought that the money you were offered made it worthwhile taking the risk. Clearly, you can have had no concern for the lives and health of those who would ultimately receive the drugs.
The courts in Hong Kong view the offence of trafficking very seriously. As I am sure your lawyers have told you, the normal starting point for those who traffic in between 600 and 1200 grammes of drugs is 20 to 23 years' imprisonment with an enhanced starting point for those who import drugs into Hong Kong.
Despite the quantity of drugs involved, I am prepared to reflect the fact that you were simply a courier of these drugs by adopting an initial starting point at the bottom of the tariff band and enhancing it by one year to reflect the fact that you were importing drugs into Hong Kong. The starting point I therefore adopt is 21 years' imprisonment. The only substantial mitigation in your case is your plea of guilty and for that you are entitled to the usual discount of one-third. I sentence you to 14 years' imprisonment.
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