COURT: Defendant, you pleaded guilty before a magistrate of one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug and were committed to the Court of First Instance for sentence.
Today, you pleaded guilty again before me and stand convicted of the charge.
In sentencing, I have considered the whole circumstances of the case, including its nature and facts, in particular, the nature and quantity of the dangerous drug involved, your background and mitigation put forward on your behalf.
The facts of the case are simple. On 29 October 2012, you arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport from Tanzania via Ethiopia. You were refused landing by the Immigration and taken to the hospital for suspected internal concealment of drugs. On subsequent days, you discharged a total of 77 pellets containing heroin. The total quantity was 0.96 kilogramme of a mixture containing 0.42 kilogramme of heroin. You were arrested and, under caution, you remained silent.
I was told that you were born in Kenya and are now 40 years of age. You are married with two children, one 7 years old and the other 3 years old. You were educated at primary level and had traded as a businessman. You do not have a criminal conviction record in Hong Kong. Your counsel, Mr Arthur, told me that in fact you have no conviction record also in Kenya where you lived.
In mitigation, Mr Arthur stressed that you are now fully and truly remorseful. He told me that you asked him to convey your apology to the people in Hong Kong for committing this offence. I was told that you are the sole breadwinner of the family. You were in the business of selling clothes in the market. You have an aged mother who does not enjoy good health. In financial difficulties, you succumbed to the temptation of a promised reward to commit this offence. You still have not received the reward.
The dangerous drug you trafficked in was heroin. The total narcotic content of the heroin hydrochloride was 0.42 of a kilogramme. The Court of Appeal suggested, in the case of The Queen v Lau Tak Ming [1992] HKLR 370, that a sentence of 15 to 20 years of imprisonment should be considered for trafficking in heroin if the narcotic content is between 400 and 600 grammes.
In all the circumstances, I do not find that there are good grounds to depart from the tariff. I have to take into account that you had taken the dangerous drug into Hong Kong and for this reason, the starting point should be enhanced by 1 year. In all the circumstances, I consider a starting point of 16 years appropriate.
You pleaded guilty as soon as the matter was dealt with by a magistrate and, for this reason, you are entitled to a one-third discount. In my judgment, this is the extent of discount you are entitled to in this case.
Defendant, please stand up. In all the circumstances, I sentence you to an imprisonment term of 10 years and 8 months.