HKSAR v. Diallo Mamadou

CAC C 408/2011

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 408 OF 2011

(ON APPEAL FROM HCCC NO. 262 OF 2011)

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Stock VP (giving the judgment of the Court):

1.The applicant pleaded guilty before Deputy Judge A Chan on 26 September 2011 to a count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and now seeks leave to appeal that sentence.

2.The applicant is a national of Guinea and arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on the morning of 10 January 2011 from Kuala Lumpur.  He was in transit to Guandong.  He was intercepted and taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for medical examination where in the course of several days there he discharged 79 pellets each of which contained the dangerous drug heroin hydrochloride.  The total quantity was 0.84 kg of a mixture containing 0.49 kg of heroin hydrochloride; the street value of which was in the region of $610,000.

3.Upon interview he said that he was on his way to the Mainland to buy some clothes to sell in Africa; that he wanted to earn money to start his own business and that is why he swallowed the pellets of drugs which were given to him by a man in Malaysia for delivery in Guanzhou. He had been promised US$4,000 for his efforts.

4.In support of his application he says to us today that he is sorry for the offence which he has committed.

5.The judge adopted a point before plea of 18 years’ imprisonment, which he took to include the aggravating feature of the international element and, according the normal discount for the plea of guilty, imposed the 12-year term.  The tariff for trafficking in a quantity between 400 and 600 g of heroin hydrochloride, set by R v Lau Tak Ming and others [1990] 2 HKLR 370, is a starting point of between 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment.  Therefore, without the international element, the appropriate starting point in this case was in the region of 17 years and an addition of one year for the international element is the least that might be expected.  So, at the end of the day, given the plea of guilty, the sentence imposed by the judge was appropriate.

6.Accordingly, the application is dismissed.