CRIMINAL CASE NO. 82 OF 2011
COURT: The defendant has pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 718.14 grammes of heroin hydrochloride by pure narcotic content.
The facts of the case are simple. Having arrived by plane from Manila, the defendant was stopped, checked at the “Nothing to Declare” channel, whereupon Customs officers discovered the said drug from under the lining of his suitcase.
The defendant is aged 40, and Filipino by nationality. He does not live in Hong Kong. Reportedly, he worked in his mother’s shop, and has a live-in partner and one daughter. He has no previous convictions both here and in the Philippines.
In mitigation it is said that the defendant has a severely ill parent, and he has behaved exemplarily in prison.
Given the quantity of the drug involved, plus the fact that this is a case of international trafficking, a starting point of 21 years is, in my view, appropriate.
I should also point out that this is not a first opportunity plea. The defendant had been ordered a retrial after conviction and a successful appeal. It is only now that he has decided to take the bull by the horns, as it were.
As it is, he will only be given a 25 per cent discount, thus lowering the sentence to 15 years and 9 months, and that is the sentence I pass on him.