HKSAR v. Maya Acevedo Alberto
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HCCC 342/2012 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO 342 OF 2012 -----------------
--------------------------------- Transcript of the Audio Recording
COURT: Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 134, Laws of Hong Kong, the particulars being that you on 20 April of last year at Hong Kong International Airport unlawfully trafficked in 0.97 kilogramme of a solid containing 0.49 kilogamme of cocaine. The Summary of Facts that you have agreed are straightforward and establish that you arrived in Hong Kong on a flight from Doha on the date in question. A personal search and baggage search on you at Customs clearance proved negative but you were subsequently taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where an X-ray confirmed the presence of foreign objects inside your body cavity. You subsequently discharged 89 packets which contained the drugs being the subject matter of the charge. The drugs themselves are worth an estimated street value of HK$1.1 million. You told the police in a subsequent interview that you swallowed the drugs in a hotel in Bogota, Columbia, that you were to receive instructions as to delivery in Hong Kong, and would receive US$20,000 as a reward. You are 39 years of age, a Columbian national, married with two children. You embarked upon this illegal enterprise for financial gain but fortunately were intercepted before the drugs could be distributed on the streets of Hong Kong. There is of course in this case an aggravating feature in that there is an international element to this offence in that clearly you imported these drugs into Hong Kong from Columbia. The guidelines for sentence with regard to trafficking in quantities of between 400 to 600 grammes of cocaine indicate a starting point of between 15 and 20 years’ imprisonment after trial. In this case the court is dealing with 0.49 kilos of narcotic. Accordingly, I adopt a starting point of 17 years’ imprisonment. I will increase that by 6 months to take account of the aggravating feature that I have identified, coming to 17½ years’ imprisonment. I will afford you the full one-third discount in sentence to take account of your plea of guilty which is the only real mitigation in this case, arriving at a sentence of 11 years and 8 months’ imprisonment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||