CRIMINAL CASE NO. 18 OF 2011
COURT: The defendant pleads guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134.
The defendant, a holder of a Guinean passport arrived at Hong Kong from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her baggage was checked which revealed nil result. She was taken to the hospital and she eventually excreted a total of 76 pellets of drugs. The drugs, on later analysis, were found to be 741.95 grammes of mixture containing 504.74 grammes of heroin hydrochloride. Under caution, defendant admitted that she was asked by an African male in Kuala Lumpur to swallow the pellets and she thought they were medicine and she was promised US$200 upon arrival in Hong Kong.
The retail value of the drugs at the time of the seizure was estimated at about HK$585,000.
Defendant is now aged 32. She has a clear record. By way of mitigation, I am told that she was married young and now has six children. The youngest one is still a baby whilst the oldest one is now aged 15. Counsel told me that defendant’s husband died in 2009 and she travelled to Malaysia to locate her sister-in-law in order to acquire funds which she believed to belong to her husband, but in vain.
It was in those moments of weakness that she succumbed to the temptation of the African male thinking that she was only required to take the medicine from Malaysia to Hong Kong. It was only when she was told to ingest those pellets that she realised that they were dangerous drugs but it was all too late. Counsel urges me to take account of defendant’s timely plea, indicating her full remorse and to exercise clemency in her case.
In sentencing the defendant, I have taken into account the nature of the offence, the nature and quantity of the drugs involved and the sentencing tariff, as well as mitigation forwarded.
For trafficking in heroin weighing between 400 to 600 grammes, a starting point between 15 to 20 years is to be adopted. In this case, an international element is present. I adopt a starting point of 20 years’ imprisonment. She is entitled to the full one-third discount for her plea of guilty. She is sentenced to 13 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.