HKSAR v. ARAQUE ESCOBAR BRIGIDA MARIA

HCCC 248/2017

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 248 OF 2017

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

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COURT:

I am not going to preach a sermon on the evils of the international drug trade. You must be well aware of the dangers that cocaine present to addicts, people who may be tempted to take drugs, and to society throughout the world in general.

And you must have been well aware of the risks you were running when you very foolishly agreed to bring this very large quantity of drugs into Hong Kong.

I have been addressed at length on your family circumstances, and I am fully aware of them, and you have my utmost sympathy in relation to them.

But then again, I have to bear in mind that there are millions of people in the world, no doubt millions of people in South America, whose family circumstances are just as bad as yours, and yet they do not seek to alleviate them by engaging in international drug-smuggling.

Aggravating your offence is the fact that you brought over half a kilogram of cocaine into Hong Kong. It is well-established that your sentence must be greater than if you had just participated in internal trafficking in drugs within Hong Kong.

I accept that you are of clear record, but that helps you very little.

I know that your barrister, Ms Cannise Chan, will have told you that there are very clear guidelines laid down for myself and all judges, as to how we must sentence people who engage in drug-trafficking, and she will have told you that we are expected to stick to those guidelines, unless there are very, very compelling reasons for us not to do so, and in your case, I can see no such very compelling reasons.

Had you taken this matter to trial, had you pleaded not guilty, had the case had to go before a jury, and had that jury found you guilty of this offence, following those guidelines, given that within the 778 grammes of mixture that you brought in, there was 667 grammes of active cocaine, after trial, I would have had to start by thinking of a 20 years’ sentence of imprisonment for you. And because there is an international element in this case, I would have had to increase that sentence by at least 18 months to one of 21 and a half years’ imprisonment.

You do have mitigation, and it is the most powerful possible. It is that you have admitted your offence at the earliest opportunity when the case came before a magistrate, and that permits me, and Ms Chan, I am sure, has told you this, that permits me to reduce your sentence quite considerably, in fact, by as much as one-third.

This morning, Ms Chan has addressed me very eloquently on the fact that you are participating in an exceptionally laudable campaign run by Father John Wotherspoon, who is one of the Roman Catholic chaplains to the Correctional Services Department, to deter people like yourself, who may be tempted to engage in drug-trafficking, and who fall prey to these very wicked people in South America who recruit people such as yourself to bring drugs to Hong Kong. From what I have seen, you are participating in that campaign willingly and constructively.

Ms Chan has argued that because of your participation, I can and should reduce your sentence further. As I have said to her, and I have to say to you, the Court of Appeal which is a superior court to me, has made it clear in September of last year that questions of reduction of sentence for people who participate in Father Wotherspoon’s campaign, or indeed any campaign like it, are not for the judges to decide, but they are for the executive, for the Chief Executive and his advisors to decide, and I very much regret, and I think regret is the right word, to say that I really cannot give you a further discount in sentence because of your participation in that campaign. You may reasonably hope that if you continue with it, that you will receive some leniency from the executive, but that is not for me to decide, and not for me to dictate.

So, as I have said, after trial, you would have been looking at a sentence of 21 and a half years’ imprisonment, and I am reducing that by a full one-third, in fact, I am reducing it by slightly more than one-third, and reducing it to a sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment, and I am afraid, Madam, that is the sentence you will have to serve.

Under our law in Hong Kong, the date of your sentence will start from the date you were first taken into custody, which is the date of your arrest.