COURT: Defendant, on 14 December 2020, you pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs before a magistrate at Eastern Magistracy. As a result of your plea of guilty, you were committed here to the Court of First Instance for sentence. You admitted that on 5 February 2020 at the Customs Arrival Hall at Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, you unlawfully trafficked in 432 grammes of a solid containing 313 grammes of cocaine which is a dangerous drug.
On the evening of 5 February 2020, you arrived on a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After your arrival, you were subjected to customs clearance with no irregularities found. Medical check-up at North Lantau Hospital revealed the presence of foreign objects concealed inside your body. You were arrested and cautioned and remained silent. You were then escorted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the discharge of the foreign objects.
Between 5 February and 10 February 2020, you discharged a total of 40 pellets containing the drugs as stated in the charge. Clearly the pellets were the foreign objects in your body.
In a cautioned interview conducted with a Swahili interpreter, you remained silent. At the time of arrest, you were found in possession of a printout of a hotel reservation of MGM Macau from 5 to 10 February 2020.
In your possession were numerous currencies, more particularly US$1,500, Ethiopian currency, Indian currency, Pakistani currency, Kenyan currency, Sri Lankan currency, Saudi Arabian currency, Korean currency and Renminbi. Also in your possession was a mobile phone and eight SIM cards.
The airline records showed that you had return flights scheduled on 13 February 2020 from Hong Kong to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The flight tickets cost approximately $7,300.
The street value of the drugs seized was approximately $447,056 as of February 2020.
You accept and admit that at the material time, you were knowingly in possession of dangerous drugs for the purpose of unlawful trafficking.
Defendant, you are 37 years of age, a Kenyan national, have been educated at college level obtaining a diploma in management and human resources. You have a clear record in Hong Kong. You are now separated from your husband whom you married in a tribal marriage. You have two children; a son aged 17 and a daughter aged 13. Your parents passed away when you were very young, your father when you were 7 and your mother when you were 13. This left you, your two brothers and three sisters destitute. You are the eldest in the family. Your occupation in Kenya was as a sales manager for approximately three to four years prior to this offence, earning US$400 a month.
Mr Richard Donald has submitted your mitigation to this court in writing and I shall not repeat all that is stated in there. I have also received a mitigating letter written in your own hand, another letter from Reverend Poon, Venus Poon Pui-ling, who is a pastor who visits inmates in prison and correctional institutions, that is dated 11 May 2021.
I have a letter from Father John Wotherspoon dated 2 June 2021 whereby he stated that you have actively supported his anti-drug campaign as a warning to others not to take drugs to Hong Kong in your detailed and graphic story. And he has attached your letter which supported the anti-drug campaign. I note quite by coincidence in fact Father Wotherspoon was on the same flight as you were from Addis Ababa to Hong Kong on that very date.
I also have submitted today before me a letter from your son, Mases Eugine, and your sister, Agnes Onyango and also various photographs of your stepmother who is suffering from cervical cancer.
Prior to committing this offence, you were residing in Nairobi, Kenya, and as a result of your failed marriage and having to support your immediate family and siblings and also your stepmother as the sole breadwinner for your family, you were desperate for money to support them and to pay for the medical expenses for your stepmother.
In this desperate situation, you met a neighbour of your sister’s who said she could arrange for you to be employed in Ethiopia. You therefore quickly arranged to obtain a passport and flew from Kenya to Addis Ababa. When there, you were picked up by a male called Mike and met by another male called Paul. You claimed that they had raped you and that you would be compensated and rewarded. It was them, you say, who then gave you the pellets to swallow and you came knowingly to come to Hong Kong with the pellets.
Mr Richard Donald has said that despite all your ill-treatment by these Nigerian men who were in Addis Ababa, you agreed to swallow the drugs knowing it was cocaine and that you were to bring these drugs to Hong Kong and/or Macau. Mr Donald has made it clear that there is no suggestion that you are suggesting that you brought these drugs to Hong Kong under a duress situation. Clearly, the reason for you committing this offence was because, as Mr Donald has said, your abject poverty in Kenya and the fact that you had to support all your family as the sole breadwinner.
Your sister and son have pleaded for leniency on your behalf as well as Reverend Poon and Father Wotherspoon. Your sister has asked this court to afford you an opportunity to reform, and asks for non-custodial sentence as you are likely to be highly traumatised and this will cause further suffering and unrepairable damage to the entire family and children who are now single parents.
I have no doubt you have been -- sure that you have been advised of the strict sentencing policy in Hong Kong. Trafficking in drugs is a very serious offence and it is punishable by an immediate custodial sentence.
As Mr Donald has said in his mitigation, you have endeavoured to assist the authorities in this case by providing an NPS outlining the details of Mary, Immaculate, Pau, Mike and the two Nigerian men as well as the details of the hotels in Addis Ababa where you stayed. He accepts, as stated by the prosecution, that the information of those four persons mentioned which consisted of a nickname, name, approximate age, nationality and a non-specific address was provided to the Customs and Excise who had already shared this with the relevant overseas law enforcement agencies and the Customs and Excise has followed up on the outcome and there is none. Therefore, based on the above, the information provided by you is not of any practical use. Mr Donald has confirmed to me that he accepts that there is no positive assistance to the authorities.
As Mr Donald rightly points out, the strongest mitigating factor in your case, defendant, is your plea of guilty at the earliest and first opportunity. Your letter that you have written to court clearly states that you are remorseful and sadly now your family is in a worse position without you as the sole breadwinner.
The guideline case for sentencing for trafficking in these dangerous drugs is that of Lau Tak Ming. The band to which you fall within is that of between 200 and 400 grammes of which a starting point as laid down by the Court of Appeal, is one between 12 and 15 years’ imprisonment. Defendant, you were trafficking in 313 grammes of cocaine. Had you been convicted after trial, the appropriate starting point would be one of 13 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
There was an aggravating factor in this case in that you had imported these drugs into Hong Kong. The importation of drugs into Hong Kong is otherwise known as the international element and taking into account the guidelines laid down by Chung Ping Kun [2014] 6 HKC 106, the enhancement to the starting point I take will be one of 6 months’ imprisonment.
Therefore had you been convicted after trial, the sentencing point will be one of 14 years’ imprisonment. You pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and therefore you deserve the full one-third discount and therefore you shall be sentenced to 9 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
Defendant, I do not give you any further discount for your participation in Father Wotherspoon’s anti-drug campaign as this is a matter best left to the Executive to determine and this is well-stated in the case of HKSAR v Kilima Abubakar Abbas [2018] 5 HKLRD 88 and Akinyi Grace Sylvia, CACC 324/2015.