HKSAR v. Girmay Solomon Hagos

HCCC 158/2018

[2018] HKCFI 2720

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 158 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Defendant, on 14 May 2018, you pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug. You admitted that on 8 October 2017, at the Hong Kong International Airport, you unlawfully trafficked in 1.92 kilogrammes of a solid containing 1.60 kilogrammes of cocaine.

On 8 October, you arrived in Hong Kong from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. You were intercepted for customs clearance and a check was made of your briefcase and inside that, the customs officers found a false compartment which contained one packet containing the drugs as I have just mentioned in the charge.

You were arrested and under caution. You claimed you did not know what the white powder inside your briefcase was. You stated that you came to Hong Kong alone for a hair-related business and you will go back home afterwards. You went on to state that you would not give the briefcase to anyone in Hong Kong. You claimed that you did not know what was concealed inside the briefcase and you told the customs officers that the briefcase was new and you had just bought it in Ethiopia yesterday for US$10 to $12. You had upon you at the time of your arrest US$1,000.01 and a very small amount of Ethiopian birr. You repeated in your video-recorded interview that you had come here for business and that you had purchased your briefcase from a market in Ethiopia. You were due to leave to Hong Kong back to Addis Ababa on 15 October.

Through your plea of guilty, you now accept and admit that you knowingly imported these drugs seized into Hong Kong. That means that you did know that your briefcase contained drugs.

The estimated street value of the drugs seized was HK$2,363,520.

You are 31 years of age from Ethiopia and hold an Ethiopian passport. You have a clear record both here and in Ethiopia. You are single and have a college diploma in construction. You have been working in your family’s business for almost 10 years as a marketing manager which I understand to be in a hair-related business.

Mr Sadhwani has told me that you suffer from depression and some stomach and liver problems. These are supported in the documents to which you have filed in court. I have before me a large bundle of documents in your mitigation bundle which I shall mark MFI-1, and unusually in this bundle are references from your inmates whilst you have been in custody since your arrest telling me, in effect, how helpful you are to them. You have assisted them in either teaching them English or educating them about various aspects.

From the bundle, I see from your family that your brothers and sisters and your mother, you have been a good sibling and son and they have said nothing but good words about you. The bundle shows me that you have performed much charitable work in Ethiopia helping children and others who are less well off. Your letter to me read by Mr Sadhwani, shows me that you are remorseful for what you have done and you are sorry to the Hong Kong government and people, but nevertheless thankful to them for providing you with medical and legal support and for the customs treating you with respect.

As I asked Mr Sadhwani, a man like you having such a good clean slate participating in providing assistance to people in Ethiopia and continuing that trait in Hong Kong whilst in custody, it surprises me that someone like you can get involved in such a very serious offence of trafficking. And not only that, but to cross the seas so far away from Ethiopia to Hong Kong when I am told that this is your very first trip to Hong Kong. Mr Sadhwani is unable to give me an answer as to why you committed this offence. He told me that when he has asked you, you are lost for words and there is nothing more he can offer me as to the reason why you became involved in such a very, very serious crime. Particularly Mr Sadhwani tells me that whilst in Ethiopia, you have done your best to live a good life, be a good person and avoid criminal activity. But this criminal activity you have participated in today is more serious in that it involves two countries, an international element, whereby you took these drugs from Ethiopia to Hong Kong.

As Mr Sadhwani has advised you, I am told, that for trafficking in dangerous drugs in these extraordinarily large amounts, Hong Kong imposes very substantial sentences. Although, your family, friends, relatives and supporters in court have pleaded for your leniency, I have taken into account what good things they have said about you, but really for this very serious offence, the only mitigating factor in your case, defendant, is, and your strongest mitigating factor is your plea of guilty. As you pleaded guilty at the very earliest opportunity, you shall be awarded a one-third discount from the sentencing point that I take.

Defendant, you had trafficked in 1,600 grammes of cocaine. The tariff case is that of Abdallah, where the guidelines for 1,200 to 4,000 grammes of cocaine warrant a starting point of 23 to 26 years’ imprisonment. Had you been convicted after trial, the appropriate starting point would have been one of 23 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.

There is an aggravating factor here, defendant, such that will enhance that starting point. That is, as I referred to earlier, the international element, the importing of the drugs into Hong Kong. And for that, the sentence is further enhanced by 2 years, making the sentencing point that of 25 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.

Defendant, as I mentioned earlier, you have pleaded guilty and that warrants a full one-third discount and the resulting term to which you shall serve shall be one of 16 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.