HKSAR v. Perez Peraza Zuleyma Coromoto

HCCC 228/2017

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 228 OF 2017

-----------------

-----------------

---------------------------------------------

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

---------------------------------------------

COURT:

The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 972 grammes of a solid containing 799 grammes of cocaine.

On 5 October 2016, the defendant arrived at Hong Kong from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, via a flight. At about 1025 hours on the same day, the defendant was intercepted by customs officers at a transit lounge of the airport for customs clearance while she was going to transit to Macau by ferry. The defendant was arrested as X-ray scan of the defendant showed that there were foreign object inside the cavity of the defendant.

Under caution, she remained silent. The defendant was later transferred to hospital for further medical examination. The defendant discharged in total 100 pellets of suspected cocaine on seven occasions. They were later confirmed to be 100 pellets containing a total of 972 grammes of a solid containing 799 grammes of cocaine.

The defendant admitted in a record of interview, inter alia, that:

(1)   The defendant came to Hong Kong for transit to Macau and to bring the drugs to Macau.

(2)   Her friend, Marvin, offered her the job for bringing drugs which she accepted. She was provided with air tickets, US$1,000 and booked hotel for the trip.

(3)   The defendant was given the 100 pellets of dangerous drugs by an unknown woman in Brazil.

(4)   She was instructed to transit to Macau by ferry directly and not to stay in Hong Kong.

(5)   She has been told that someone would approach her when she arrived in Macau.

(6)   The defendant only knew the pellets were drugs but she did not know what kind of drugs they were.

The cocaine seized had an estimated retail value of $1,101,276 in total at the time of seizure.

The defendant admits and accepts that she was trafficking in the dangerous drug seized in this case.

The antecedents statement of the defendant states that she was born in Venezuela and is now 25 years old. She has a clear record in Hong Kong. She received high school education and she left school in 2006. She worked as a cashier in a fast food shop. She has one son and two daughters, aged from 3 to 7, at the time of arrest.

The defendant was in her sixth week of pregnancy at the time of arrest. The pregnancy was found out on 9 October 2016, after the defendant had been admitted to the hospital for medical examination and discharge of the swallowed cocaine pellets. She had termination of pregnancy due to spontaneous incomplete miscarriage on 19 October 2016.

Mr Grounds tells me in mitigation that the defendant has a clear record both in Hong Kong and back in Venezuela. The defendant worked as a cashier in a fast food shop earning a meagre income of which she contributed half to her parents. The defendant, apart from taking care of her three young children, was responsible for the care and medical expenses of one of her elder brothers who suffered from schizophrenia.

Mr Grounds submits that life in Venezuela was chaotic in many aspects and many people, like the defendant’s family, live in poverty. Many were preyed upon by traffickers, as in the case of the defendant. She was lured to traffic in dangerous drugs for monetary reward and she travelled to Sao Paulo as a result.

I have, before me, two mitigation letters written by the defendant and her husband. Mr Grounds submits that the defendant was unaware of the pregnancy at the time. It is possible that the miscarriage was due to the swallowing and the subsequent discharge of the pellets of cocaine.

Mr Grounds submits that the defendant made a frank admission after her arrest. The defendant now misses her children dearly. Apart from writing to her family, the defendant, with a few hundred dollars that she earned for her work each month, could only make a phone call to her family once a month. The huge fall from grace has resulted in much hardship to the defendant who finds herself incarcerated in a foreign place with no visitor.

Mr Grounds tells me that the defendant has a strong desire not to allow others to follow her footsteps. She participated in an anti-drug trafficking campaign run by Father John Wotherspoon. The defendant and her family with whom Father John has been in contact, have joined the campaign by posting on social media in South America, warning people in South America about the dire consequences of drug trafficking to Hong Kong. Father John’s letter is in tab 4 of the mitigation bundle. It sets out what the defendant has done for Father John’s anti-drug campaign from the beginning of her detention.

On the issue of the effect of an accused person’s participation in Father John’s campaign on his or her sentence, Mr Grounds draws my attention to the following cases. Lopez Garcia Manuel Orlando [2017] HKEC 1462, Echendu Chijioke Nick[2017] HKEC 1721, Higgs Fabienne [2016] HKEC 2391, Otieno Millicent Akoth [2016] 4 HKLRD1.

In the present case, Mr Grounds urges me to treat the defendant as a person with a positive good character in the light of what she has done to combat drug trafficking after her arrest. Mr Grounds submits that for the 799 grammes of cocaine, the defendant is in the band of 20 to 23 years’ imprisonment. He asked me take the lowest starting point of 20 years, although simple mathematic calculation would suggest a starting point of 21 years. For the international element, Mr Grounds asked me not to enhance the sentence for more than 1 year. He urges me to impose the lowest possible sentence on the defendant.

This case concerned 799 grammes of cocaine. Applying the tariff as set down by the Court of Appeal in HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437, a primary starting point of 21 years’ imprisonment is appropriate. The international element in this case calls for an enhancement. In HKSAR v Chung Ping Kun, CACC 85/2014, Cheung JA suggested, as a broad guideline, the level of enhancement for bringing between 500 and 1,000 grammes of drugs into Hong Kong, is 1 to 2 years. Given the quantity of cocaine involved in this case, ie, 799 grammes of cocaine, in my judgment, an enhancement of 18 months’ imprisonment is appropriate.

The primary starting point of 21 years with 18 months’ enhancement would bring the starting point to 270 months’ imprisonment.

The defendant pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity. She is entitled to one-third reduction for her guilty plea. That would bring her sentence down to 15 years’ imprisonment, ie, 180 months.

In my judgment, the defendant should be given some recognition for what she did after her arrest, in particular her participation in Father John’s campaign to combat drug trafficking. The defendant’s willing participation in Father John’s very worthy campaign shows that she is truly remorseful and she genuinely wishes to deter others to follow her footsteps. The recognition should be reflected in the sentence she is to receive.

I treat the defendant as a person with a positive good character. She should be given some extra reduction over and on top of her clear record which is subsumed into the one-third reduction for her guilty plea. Taken together with the personal circumstances and all the matters advanced in mitigation, I will further discount the sentence by 10 months. That would bring the sentence down to 14 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.

I sentence the defendant to a term of 14 years and 2 months’ imprisonment.