CRIMINAL CASE NO. 20 OF 2011
COURT: Constance Mabuza and Ali Khalid Bashir, you have each been convicted on your own pleas of trafficking in a very substantial quantity of cocaine. 1.48 kilogrammes of a powder containing 1.11 kilogrammes of cocaine.
In your case, Ali Khalid Bashir, you have also been convicted on your own plea of simple possession of a smaller quantity of cocaine concealed in your mobile phone, 0.65 grammes of powder containing 0.32 grammes of cocaine.
Insofar as you are concerned, Constance Mabuza, the charge of trafficking is based upon your having brought the cocaine into Hong Kong International Airport on 21 August last year on a direct flight from Johannesburg. The cocaine was concealed in the lining of a brown handbag which was inside the suitcase which you had checked in.
The street value of the cocaine at that time in Hong Kong was approximately HK$1.5 million. You have claimed, and this has not been challenged by the prosecution, that you were persuaded to bring the drugs into Hong Kong by the assurance that the person or persons who collected the drugs from you when you arrived in Hong Kong would assist you to find the father of your then three month old son who you brought with you on the same flight.
After Customs officers discovered the drugs in your suitcase you agreed to assist them by participating in a controlled delivery operation. You made a call to the person in South Africa who you say had given you a small bag which contained the drugs. He told you to find a cheap hotel in which to stay and that you would then be contacted by the person who would arrange collection of the drugs.
Customs officers escorted you to the Novotel Hotel in Jordan where you cooperated in making and receiving further calls with the person in South Africa and a local number. As a result of those calls you, Ali Khalid Bashir, came to the hotel and having confirmed the 1st defendant’s room number over the telephone, you came to the room where she handed you the luggage containing the drugs, the cocaine.
It is the taking delivery of the cocaine at the Novotel that is the basis of the charge of trafficking against you.
You claim that you arrived in Hong Kong on 2 August last year intending to carry out legitimate business here. But had been persuaded by two men you had met in Chungking Mansions to take collection of these drugs on their behalf.
You claim that these two men were in the vicinity of the hotel when you were making the collection. Insofar as the drugs in the mobile phone are concerned, you claim that you were simply storing the drugs, which are the subject of the charge, for somebody else.
It is particularly tragic that you, Constance Mabuza, should be involved in this sort of offence. You are 25 years of age and apart from the baby son you brought with you to Hong Kong, who is now aged 15 months, you have a daughter aged 7 in South Africa.
I have been told that you will only be able to keep your young son with you until he is approximately 3 years of age. Inevitably the sentence that this court is bound to impose upon you will deprive you of the opportunity of bringing up your children throughout much of their childhood and deprive them of your love and care.
While these may be circumstances to which considerable weight might attach in a case of other offences, drug trafficking is such a serious offence that little weight can attach to those circumstances in this sort of case.
You, Ali Khalid Bashir, are a young man of 22 who as a result of these offences will have to spend what would otherwise be some of the best years of your life in prison.
As I am sure your counsel will have told you both, the normal initial starting point for those who traffick in between 600 grammes and 1.2 kilogrammes of cocaine is 20 to 23 years’ imprisonment before any enhancement to reflect the international element of this offence.
In this case I am prepared to accept that both of you were being used by others more culpable and more deeply involved in this enterprise and for that reason I adopt an initial starting point of 21 years’ imprisonment in both your cases. In both your cases that starting point must be enhanced to reflect the international element in this case.
In your case, Constance Mabuza, you had brought the drugs into Hong Kong from South Africa. In your case, Ali Khalid Bashir, you knew that you were going to a hotel to collect a suitcase containing drugs from a woman who had just arrived from South Africa. A person who collects drugs from the courier who has flown with the drugs into Hong Kong is playing a vital role in the scheme of importing drugs into Hong Kong.
The appropriate final starting point in both your cases on the trafficking charges is 23 years’ imprisonment. Insofar as the charge of simple possession of cocaine against you, Ali Khalid Bashir, is concerned, in my view the appropriate starting point is 1 year’s imprisonment.
Each of you is entitled to the usual discount of one-third to reflect your pleas of guilty.
In your case, Constance Mabuza, your assistance to the authorities warrants further discount. It is accepted by the prosecution that without your cooperation in the controlled delivery operation it is unlikely that your co-accused, the 2nd defendant, would have been located and arrested.
You have subsequently given witness statements to the prosecuting authorities and were due to give evidence for the prosecution against the 2nd defendant in a trial which would have started today.
Mr Dunn, who appears for the 2nd defendant, has informed the court that the statements made by you were a material factor in persuading his client to plead guilty. In my view your cooperation warrants a discount of approximately 45 per cent.
Bearing these matters in mind I accordingly pass sentence as follows. On Count 1, I sentence the 1st defendant to 12½ years’ imprisonment; on Charge 2, I sentence the 2nd defendant to 15 years’ imprisonment; on Charge 3, I sentence the 2nd defendant to 8 months’ imprisonment to run concurrently with the sentence on Charge 2. Insofar as the 2nd defendant is concerned it is a total sentence of 15 years.