COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to the offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug before a magistrate on 24 March this year and she was committed to the Court of First Instance for sentence. It is alleged that on the 3rd day of June 2024, at the Hong Kong International Airport, she unlawfully trafficked in 791 grammes of a solid containing 653 grammes of cocaine.
According to the Summary of Facts to which she admitted at the time of her guilty plea, on the evening of 3 June last year she arrived in Hong Kong by flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Paris, France. She was intercepted for customs clearance and a body search revealed a condom wrapping foreign objects protruding from her vagina.
She was arrested for contravening the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. Later she was escorted to the North Lantau Hospital. The condom wrapping the foreign object was taken out from her vagina, and found to contain one plastic wrapping containing 185 grammes of a solid containing 152 grammes of cocaine. Later, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, she discharged a total of 102 pallets which were found to contain 102 plastic wrappings of a total of 606 grammes of a solid containing 501 grammes of cocaine.
The estimated market value of all the cocaine found was HK$677,887.
According to the hotel booking seized from her, it appeared that a room in a Tsim Sha Tsui Hotel was reserved in her name for nine nights from 3 to 12 June 2024.
The defendant admitted that at the material time, she knowingly trafficked in all the cocaine seized by importing them into Hong Kong.
The defendant is a Brazilian female who is now 39 years of age. She has no criminal conviction in Hong Kong. She declined to tell the authorities anything about her detail personal background.
In mitigation, counsel Ms Alva informed me that the defendant was born in Brazil and she had a total of three sons and one daughter with her husband who passed away in the middle of 2023. Before her husband passed away, she worked on and off as a cook and as a counter staff at a café. After the death of her husband, her financial situation became very difficult because she needed to support her family members. She was asked by a friend to do a job in April 2024. Eventually she was asked to bring the drug into Hong Kong.
In mitigation, counsel also informed me that the elder son of the defendant passed away while she was remanded in custody here. A total of five mitigation letters were also submitted on her behalf. One letter was prepared by the defendant herself. The other letters were prepared by her two sons, her mother and her brother respectively. All of them pleaded for leniency.
Counsel informed me that she also had no criminal conviction back in Brazil. While she was remanded in custody she had completed certain courses, so she maintained a positive attitude during her remand. Counsel urged this court to take into account the fact that she is suffering from a lot of stress as being detained far away from her family members in Hong Kong, the whole circumstances of the case and give her a lenient sentence.
As for the international element which should be considered as part of her role and culpability in this matter, counsel said that an enhancement of 6 to 7 months would be sufficient for that purpose.
In sentencing the defendant, I do bear in mind the approach set out by the Court of Appeal in the case of HKSAR Herry Jane Yusuph [2021] 1 HKLRD 290 as clarified by the case of HKSAR v Lee Ming Ho [2024] 1 HKLRD 1186.
According to the revised guidelines in the recent case of HKSAR v Huang Ruifang [2025] 2 HKLRD 138, the starting point for trafficking in between 500 and 1,500 grammes of cocaine narcotic is 16 to 20 years’ imprisonment after trial. So the arithmetic starting point for trafficking in 653 grammes of cocaine narcotic would be 16 years and 7 months’ imprisonment. The arithmetic starting point is appropriate for persons at the lower bottom of the trafficking hierarchy such as couriers and storekeepers.
In this particular case, the defendant was a drug mule being used in the international importation of the drug into Hong Kong. This international element is merely a factor to be taken into account in assessing her role and culpability. However, it is one which normally makes the offender’s role and culpability more serious and enhances the starting point for sentence. The international element applies to the sentencing of drug mules because they were fuelling the supply of drugs in Hong Kong and causing harm to individuals and the society, regardless of the circumstances of their own personal backgrounds and involvement. Moreover, the drug mules themselves must have fully understood their acts and the consequences.
So, taking into account the overall role and culpability of this defendant including the international element, I consider that the notional starting point after trial should be one of 17 years and 7 months’ imprisonment.
The defendant pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and she is entitled to the full one-third discount. Bearing in mind all the information that had been provided before me by defence counsel and her plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity, I decide to give her a 35 per cent discount from the notional starting point, and sentence her to 11 years and 5 months’ imprisonment.
So that is the sentence I impose on the defendant, 11 years and 5 months.