HKSAR v. RUIZ CUERO OTILIO

HCCC 7/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 7 OF 2013

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

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COURT: Ruiz Cuero Otilio, I am not going to read out a long sermon to you. The evils of the international trade in dangerous drugs, particularly the trade in cocaine, will be well known to you.

Sentences for those who choose to traffic in dangerous drugs in Hong Kong are, rightly, very severe. They involve long periods of imprisonment.

The fact that you deliberately brought over one kilogram of cocaine mixture into Hong Kong from Colombia adds an international aspect to this case, which is an aggravating factor so far as sentencing is concerned.

I find nothing in your personal circumstances to be of mitigating value. I am told that you have a sick wife and you needed money to fund her medical care, but I have to bear in mind that many people have sick wives, sick relatives, and yet very, very few of them resort to crime in order to fund their medical needs.

I am aware that you are, so far as is known, of a clear record, but a clear record counts very little in cases of international drug trafficking.

Your only mitigation, and it is a very powerful mitigation, is your early plea of guilty. A plea of guilty by a defendant saves the authorities time, trouble and expense, but far more importantly than that, it indicates a realism on the part of the defendant, and realism in itself is an indication of true remorse. You will receive proper recognition for your plea of guilty.

Your counsel, Mr Omar, I know has told you that in Hong Kong there are guidelines laid down for my guidance and the guidance of all judges and magistrates as to how they should sentence people who choose to traffic in dangerous drugs. He will have told you that we are expected to stick to those guidelines unless there are very strong reasons for us not to do so, and I have to tell you that in your case there are no such very strong reasons.

The amount of cocaine that you brought into Hong Kong weighed over 1.3 kilograms of a mixture. It was not all cocaine; it had been adulterated with other substances, but the active narcotic content, the active cocaine content, of that mixture was 0.98 kilograms. That is nearly 1 kilogram of cocaine.

I can tell you that had you taken this matter to trial, had you pleaded not guilty, had a jury in this court convicted you of this offence, you, following the guidelines I spoke of, would have been looking at a sentence of imprisonment of at least 23 years.

Because of your plea of guilty, and to some extent because of your clear record, but only to a very small extent, I am able to reduce that sentence quite substantially. In fact, I am reducing it by just over one-third, to a sentence of imprisonment of 15 years.

When you are received into the system by the Correctional Services Department, it will be explained to you how your sentence is to be served and where you will serve it and when it will start from and when, practically, it is likely to end.

That is the sentence that this court passes on you: 15 years’ imprisonment.