CRIMINAL CASE NO. 218 OF 2010
COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs when he appeared at the Eastern Magistracy on 9 July 2010. He has confirmed his plea in these proceedings.
In short, the case against the defendant is that on 17 January 2010, after he had arrived on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, and after his baggage had been searched with a negative result, he was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where X-rays confirmed the presence of multiple foreign bodies inside him.
In due course, 68 pellet shaped objects from his body were found to contain 987.95 grammes of a mixture containing 649.69 grammes of heroin hydrochloride, worth $758,745 at street price.
The defendant, aged 34 with no convictions in Hong Kong, is a Guinean national. He admitted swallowing the heroin pellets in Malaysia and he stated that he was due to be paid US$1,000 when the heroin was collected by someone in Hong Kong.
The guidelines for sentence in such a case as this are set out in HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437 at 454 which provide, subject to enhancement for any aggravating factor, that for between 600 and 1200 grammes of heroin, a sentence of between 20 and 23 years' imprisonment is appropriate. Here the international element to the crime is an aggravating factor.
There is, as Mr Kwan has realistically accepted, no mitigation apart from the defendant’s plea of guilty for which he will receive full credit.
In my judgment, the starting point of 20 years, enhanced by a further year to take into account the international element, is appropriate. The starting point of 21 years' imprisonment will be discounted by a third to reflect your plea of guilty.
The sentence on you is one of 14 years' imprisonment. Thank you.