CRIMINAL CASE NO. 157 OF 2009
COURT: I have to sentence you for trafficking in dangerous drugs. The drug was heroin. You had swallowed 76 pellets of it in Istanbul, and you were caught at our airport.
Analysis showed that there were 316 grammes of the drug.
It will have been explained to you that the sentences are based on the nature of the drug and the quantity involved. You fall in the bracket that runs from 200 to 400 grammes, attracting a starting point of 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment.
It is not just a question of mathematics, but mathematically, you are roughly halfway through the band. That would be a starting point of 13½ years.
I am also bound to reflect the fact that your case has the aggravation that the drugs were being carried across an international border.
I will give you credit for your plea of guilty. I have read the letter you wrote, and I do not doubt its sincerity. I can believe the feelings you express there about being separated from your sons, and what drove you to commit the offence, are truly set out. But as is apparent from the letter that you appreciate that many people in your position do not resort to the wicked trade of trafficking in drugs.
You will have a third discount for the plea of guilty.
I shall take a starting point of 13½ years. In doing that, I have started at roughly that point. I have reduced it somewhat notionally for the matters Mr Arthur urged very nicely on your behalf; then I factored in the aggravation for the importation.
The starting point of 13½ years gives, after the one‑third discount, a sentence of 9 years’ imprisonment. It is a long sentence, but in the circumstances, and given the way we sentence here, you could not have hoped for less.