HKSAR v. Jitsatta Chosita
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HCCC 409/2012 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CRIMINAL CASE NO 409 OF 2012 -----------------
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--------------------------------- Transcript of the Audio Recording
COURT: When you were convicted on the last occasion, the judge spent a long time explaining to you - and you will have had his reasons in writing - why he passed a sentence of 25 years imprisonment. In fact, he delivered what amounts to an essay about how the Court of Appeal deal with these things here. He explained about the aggravation for the international element, he gave you a year’s discount for the attempt to help the Thai police and generally explained everything to you. In those circumstances, I am not going to repeat his reasons. I will say, not that it matters at all, that I would have arrived at the same figure, but by a slightly different route, but the guidelines are such and the way we follow previous cases is such that my hands are tied and I have little discretion, in effect, what the sentence should be. For drug trafficking on this scale, the sentence has to be a very long one and it doesn’t need me to say - and it is a sobering thought - that if you had done this and been caught in another country in South-East Asia, you may well have faced the death penalty. Accordingly, the sentence I pass upon you is one of 25 years imprisonment. |