HKSAR v. Jam Nassoro Omari

HCCC 214/2017

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 214 OF 2017

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Mr Omari, on 26 June 2017, you pleaded guilty before the Eastern Magistracy to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs contrary to Section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134, and you accepted that you arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on 8 November of 2016 with 1.15 kilogrammes of a solid, containing 958 grammes of cocaine, having travelled to Hong Kong from Nairobi in Kenya via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

You swallowed 71 pellets containing cocaine, which you excreted over a number of days. The street value of that cocaine at that time was HK$1,268,450.

As is your right, you remained silent under arrest and caution and in interview.

The Summary of Facts has been read out to you again today and you have accepted that they formed the basis of your plea. You stand formally convicted of the offence as charged.

You are 53 years of age, and the holder of a Tanzanian passport. Whilst we know you have no criminal record in Hong Kong, we do not know what your status is in your own country. You claim you are married with two sons and three daughters, who varied in age between 25 and 14, and you say you were a businessman dealing in mobile phones from China and gemstones in Tanzania. You say you earn approximately US$300 per month.

According to the court file, you have been travelling to and from Hong Kong since 2014, usually flying in to Chek Lap Kok and then travelling on to China through Lo Wu one or two days later, and returning through Lok Ma Chau a few days after that. The average being between some seven or eight days.

On this occasion, you were due to stay at the Good Rich Hotel between 8 and 10 November and to pay by cash. I also note the flight was paid in cash. Yet you had very little cash on you when you were arrested, only 12 Euros, 2 Riyal from Qatar, 3 Yuan and 65 Birr from Ethiopia. You have no Kenyan money or Hong Kong dollars, but you did have a debit card on you. How were you to support yourself, Mr Omari, and pay for your hotel, which was $1,400 per night? That is not the type of accommodation this court sees for the usual drug mule. Far from it.

Mr Donald, on your behalf, submits that you had heart disease and required an operation, which you were going to have in India at a cost of US$35,000. That was obviously not an amount of money you could earn and so you resorted to importing drugs into Hong Kong.

Ironically, as a result of this very serious crime, you will receive first class treatment for your condition at the expense of the Hong Kong taxpayer. I have read your letter, and you say you take full responsibility for what you have done, but your actions have left your wife and new born child without a husband and a father, and I presume, with little or no financial support, which will have to come from your adult children.

The guideline case for trafficking in between 600 to 1,200 grammes of cocaine, as Mr Donald accepts, is HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437, and the range of sentence is between 20 and 23 years. Taking into account all that has been said on your behalf, the appropriate starting point after trial is therefore 21 years and 9 months.

But there is also the aggravating feature, as your counsel accepted, that you have imported drugs into Hong Kong, and according to the Court of Appeal in Abdallah, for amounts over 1 kilogramme, the enhancement should not be less than 2 years. This case was just under 1 kilogramme, but in all the circumstances of this case, and in my discretion, taking into account the principles of totality and taking everything into consideration which has been said, and which I have read, I will enhance that sentence by 1 year only, to 22 years and 9 months.

You will, of course, receive a full one-third discount for your plea at the earliest opportunity, and you will go to prison for 15 years and 2 months.