HKSAR v. Pereira Nunes Girlene

HCCC 95/2018

[2018] HKCFI 1533

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 95 OF 2018

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

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COURT:

Miss Pereira, on 19 March 2018, 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 accepted that you arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on 9 June 2017 with 750 grammes of cocaine concealed inside your body, having travelled to Hong Kong from Brazil via Ethiopia.

Under interview you admitted that you had been asked to traffic in the dangerous drugs for a reward of US$6,000, although you said that you have yet to be paid for what you did. I note that you had US$1,001 on you at the time of your arrest as well as some other foreign monies. I presume the US dollars were given to you for expenses in Hong Kong, as counsel on your behalf told the court that you were heavily in debt at the time.

The estimated street value of what you brought into Hong Kong was $602,250.

You of course would have had no idea of the value of what you carried or the consequences of the amount of dangerous drugs that you were asked to carry into Hong Kong. That is why people such as yourself are used as drug mules.

Miss Pereira, you are 44 years of age, a mother of three, and of good character. Mr Mughal has explained your family circumstances and the history of how you came to be in financial difficulty, but you are not a single mother of young children. All three of your children were of working age as you were. No doubt you had some family support because I note that when you and your elder daughter went to Suriname you left behind your two other daughters of 17 and 19. I have no doubt that you knew what it was you were doing and you voluntarily took the risk of it.

You are not young nor are you unworldly or naïve. You have every understanding of the harm you were doing and the risk you took but you took it nevertheless. I am sure you have tried to be a good mother and a decent human being, but what you did was wrong and it would have affected other mothers and their children. I have read Father Witherspoon’s letter and what he has to say about your assistance in putting other people on notice that trafficking in dangerous drugs is not the end to their problems and I commend you for that assistance.

The guideline case for trafficking in between 600 and 1,200 grammes of cocaine is HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437 and the range of sentence, as Mr Mughal has pointed out, is between 20 to 23 years. For 750 grammes of cocaine the starting point after trial is, therefore, 20 years and 9 months. There is also the aggravating feature that you imported these drugs into Hong Kong. According to HKSAR v Chung Ping Kun, CACC 85/2014, for trafficking in between 500 grammes and 1,000 grammes, the additional sentence would be 1 year and 6 months, making a total of 22 years and 3 months.

I will, however, deduct from that sentence a period of 6 months to reflect the assistance you have given to deter others from doing what you have done and that makes a total of 21 years and 9 months. You are, of course, entitled to a full one-third discount for your plea at the earliest opportunity and you will go to prison for a period of 14 years and 6 months.