COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
She is a Tanzanian national. She was intercepted on her arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport from Kenya. Her baggage was searched and nothing illegal was found. She was then sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a medical check. An x-ray revealed existence of foreign objects in her abdomen.
She eventually excreted a total of 77 pellets of heroin, and upon analysis they were found to be 0.97 kilogram of a mixture containing 0.47 kilogram of heroin hydrochloride. She admitted that she knowingly brought into Hong Kong that heroin.
The retail value of the heroin is in the region of HK$874,000.
She is now aged 36. She has a clear record in Hong Kong. By way of mitigation, I am told that she was divorced. She has a daughter aged 13 and a son aged 11, and she is a businesswoman selling clothes and earning approximately US$100 per month, and prior to this occasion she has visited Hong Kong to do trading business, and whilst she was back in her home country she was asked by someone to deliver drugs to Hong Kong for a reward of US$7,000. She acted on such and took the risk to earn some quick money in order to enable her children to further their studies, and apparently after her arrest her children are now taken care of by her brother.
In sentencing her, I have taken into account the nature of the offence, the quantity of the drugs involved, sentencing authorities and tariffs, as well as mitigation forwarded by the defendant’s counsel on her behalf.
For trafficking in heroin weighing between 400 and 600 grammes, a starting point of between 15 to 20 years is to be adopted.
Counsel has said all that he could on the defendant’s behalf. In this case, an international element is present, which is an aggravating feature, and taking into account the narcotics as well as the international element, I adopt a starting point of 18 years’ imprisonment. I shall give her the full one-third discount for her plea of guilty.
She is sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.