CRIMINAL CASE NO. 280 OF 2012
COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in 1.16 kilograms of “Ice”.
At about 8.50 am on 25 February 2012, a Customs officer intercepted the defendant at the transit area of the Hong Kong International Airport. The officer searched the grey bag carried by the defendant. Nothing suspicious was found.
Later, the officer located a brown suitcase with the luggage tag bearing the defendant’s name. Upon search, one bag of “Ice”, the subject matter of the charge, was found hidden at the bottom compartment of the suitcase.
The street value of the “Ice” was about $1.6 million.
According to the electronic ticket found from the defendant, she departed Johannesburg and arrived at Hong Kong on 25 February 2012. She would depart Hong Kong for Koh Samui, Thailand, on the same day.
The defendant is 39. She received education up to ordinary level. She is married, with four children. The elder daughter is about to enter university. Her husband had passed away recently, in August.
The defendant has been working for 18 years as a tailor and a designer in wedding gowns. She is also teaching tailoring to the locals in Zimbabwe. Her business went downhill a few yeas ago as the market was competitive. She could not afford the university fees for her children. She was lured to take the drug to Thailand by one of her customers, Mrs Tonderay, who promised to pay for her children’s fees in university.
The defendant accepts that she committed the present offence in a moment of greediness and stupidity. She is now very remorseful.
For trafficking over 600 grammes of “Ice”, according to Ching Kwok Hung ([1991] 2 HKLR 125), the starting point should be 18 years’ imprisonment upwards.
I am grateful to both parties in drawing my attention to several cases. They are useful references.
I have to stress that trafficking in a dangerous drug is a very serious offence. Family suffering is not a valid mitigating factor. The defendant might have earned university fees for her children, but she put so many others in hell. It is the most selfish act. I do not accept her mitigation.
I take a starting point of 19½ years’ imprisonment. I deduct 6 years and 6 months for her plea.
I sentence the defendant to 13 years’ imprisonment.