HKSAR v. Ali Haidar

HCCC 2/2018

[2019] HKCFI 829

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 2 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Mr Ali, your case before the jury was that these goods were planted upon you, that the DNA that was found upon the resealable plastic bags was put there by an unlawful and improper means. You did that, and in doing so, you sought to attack members of the Hong Kong Police Force. And in doing so and instructing, as I am sure you did, Mr Kelly to take that stance, you sought to denigrate the character of members of the Hong Kong Police Force. That is a common trait nowadays and it is one that does not find favour in this court.

All members of the uniformed services in Hong Kong do an excellent job and they do not deserve an overt attack on their character in some unfortunate means of seeking to provide your defence because it was not simply the case that you put the prosecution to proof. Mr Ali, you were not believed by a unanimous verdict. The jury found you guilty of this offence.

Mr Kelly has already mentioned the guidelines for trafficking in cocaine which commence with HKSAR v Lau Tak Ming [1990] HKLR 370. But because this was a large amount of cocaine, you fall under those guidelines that are presented in HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437. And as the jury have already heard, between 4,000 grammes and 15,000 grammes, the sentencing range is 26 to 30 years as the starting point after trial.

I take the view on a strictly mathematical basis, with some degree of averaging out, that the starting point in this case for the amount of actual cocaine found within the 8 kilogrammes of solid that you had, which of course your compatriots would have sold as 8 kilogrammes of cocaine, the starting point is 26 years and 9 months.

Only recently, very recently, in a Court of Appeal decision in HKSAR v Godson Ugochukwu Okoro, the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Macrae, Mr Justice McWalters and Mr Justice Zervos sought to comment upon the status of Form 8 recognisance holders when being dealt with before the criminal courts. We give you shelter, we feed you and we give you money so that you can travel. We as a society protect you, Mr Ali, because you say you cannot be protected in your own country. And therefore, when you commit a crime, you abuse the trust we place in you. And that abuse was made worse by the fact that you sought to attack the character of our police force. As a consequence, the fact that you are a Form 8 holder allows me to enhance your sentence further. And because of that, not because you clearly disrespect the verdict of this jury, but because of your status as a Form 8 holder when you committed this offence, I enhance your sentence further by another year.

And so you will go to prison. Because there is no other mitigation advanced, including any remorse whatsoever for what you did and the harm you could be doing to people in this country, you will go to prison for 27 years and 9 months.