HKSAR v. Nkosi Xolile Rose
|
HCCC172/2012 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO. 172 OF 2012 ----------------------
--------------------------------- Transcript of the Audio Recording --------------------------------- COURT: The defendant, a 24-year-old South African female, has pleaded guilty before me to a charge of trafficking in 3.3 kilogrammes of “Ice,” namely, methamphetamine hydrochloride. The facts of the case were that on 1 December last year, the defendant arrived in Hong Kong on a flight from Nairobi, Kenya. She was to travel to Thailand the next day. When she arrived in Hong Kong, she brought with her a suitcase. In the lining of that suitcase were found by Customs officers the drugs, the subject of the charge. There are no specific guidelines for trafficking in very large quantities of “Ice” as there are as set out in Abdallah Anwar Abbas for heroin and by way of Pedro Nel Rojas for cocaine. I think perhaps there should be. I say that because it is plain from the authorities helpfully provided to me by Mr Mitchell for the defendant that there has been a noticeable variation in sentencing amongst cases such as the present in recent years, even allowing for an enhancement of the starting points on occasion as a result of an international aspect of the offence, and it seems to me that that variation may be as great as existed in sentencing for trafficking in large amounts of heroin and cocaine prior to the judgment in Abdallah Anwar Abbas. I take into account those cases provided to me by Mr Mitchell in sentencing for the present case. Bearing in mind the quantity of drug and its nature, I take a starting point of sentence of 24 years’ imprisonment, that is enhanced by 2 years to a starting point of 26 years’ imprisonment to reflect the international element of the offence. I give the defendant the full benefit of her plea of guilty and there being no other mitigation of substance, her sentence is reduced to one of 17 years 4 months’ imprisonment. (Discussion re calculation of sentence) COURT: All right. Does the defendant understand her sentence? ACCUSED: Yes, yes. COURT: She does. ACCUSED: Yes. Please refer to CACC331/2013 for the relevant appeal(s) to the Court of Appeal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||