HKSAR v. HAMID ANNAIT NJOKI KAUR

CACC 153 /2009

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL 

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 153 OF 2009 

(ON APPEAL FROM HCCC 62 of 2009) 

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Yeung JA (giving the judgment of the Court):

1.  The applicant (Hamid Annait Njoki Kaur), a 33 year old Kenyan woman, arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport from Katmandu, Nepal on 1 October 2008. She was carrying 115 pellets containing dangerous drugs. Some of the pellets were concealed inside her body.

2.  The total weight of the dangerous drugs was 1,027.07 grammes of a mixture containing 583 grammes of heroin hydrochloride with a retail value of over $600,000.

3.  The applicant subsequently pleaded guilty to the charge of trafficking in the dangerous drugs before a magistrate and was committed to the High Court for sentence. On 6 April 2009, Mr Recorder Macrae SC sentenced the applicant to 12 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.

4.  The judge pointed out the international element involved in the case and adopted a starting point of 19 years. The judge reduced the starting point by just over one-third to 12 years and 6 months on account of the applicant’s guilty plea and other mitigating factors.

5.  The applicant now seeks leave to appeal against sentence.

6.  In her letters to the court, the applicant said she needed to take care of her three children, her mother and her siblings, as she was the sole breadwinner of the family. She said she was remorseful and asked for mercy, as she committed the offence out of financial hardship and stupidity.

7.  The applicant further tells us that she is sorry for what she did, but emphasizes her difficulties being alone in Hong Kong without her children. She asks for a reduction of sentence so that she can see her children again soon as they are dear to her and she misses them.

8.  The applicant’s concerns for her children is understandable, but trafficking in a dangerous drug is a very serious offence and courts in Hong Kong have repeatedly emphasized that personal difficulty and family hardship are not mitigating factors for such an offence.

9.  To emphasize the seriousness of the offence, the Court of Appeal had laid down clear sentencing guidelines for the offence of trafficking in heroin.

10.  According to R v Lau Tak Ming & Ors [1990] 2 HKLR 370, trafficking in 400 to 600 grammes of heroin will attract a sentence of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment.

11.  The starting point of 19 years adopted by the judge was proper, as the amount of heroin involved was close to 600 grammes. The judge had given a discount of more than one-third for the applicant’s guilty plea.

12.  There is no room for any further reduction in sentence. The application for leave to appeal against sentence is dismissed.