COURT: Madam Mok, I do not profess to understand why a woman now in her 50s, who has never been in trouble with the law before, should get themselves(herself?) involved in the filthy trade of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
I note that you have no criminal record but I have to tell you that the lack of a criminal record counts for very little in drug trafficking cases. I have listened carefully to all that Mr McGowan has said on your behalf. I am aware of your family background. I sympathise for you, I sympathise for your children but, quite frankly, there is nothing in your personal circumstances or your background which is of any mitigating value.
Your only mitigation, as I am sure you have been told by Mr McGowan, lies in your plea of guilty and the fact that it was an early plea of guilty, and you will receive due recognition for that.
Mr McGowan, who is very experienced in these matters, I am sure has told you that there are guidelines laid down for my guidance, for the guidance of all judges, as to how we should sentence people who involve themselves in any way with drug trafficking, and he will have told you that we are expected to stick to those guidelines unless there are very strong reasons for us not to do so. I have to tell you that, in your case, there are no such strong reasons.
Had you taken this matter to trial, had you pleaded not guilty, had the matter come to the High Court and been tried before a jury and had a jury found you guilty, then I, following those guidelines I have spoken of, would have had in mind a sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment in respect of your offence.
Because of your plea of guilty and also because of your clear record - and it is a clear record of a woman who is now in middle-age - I am able to reduce that sentence quite considerably. I am reducing it by slightly more than one-third and I am reducing it to a sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment.