COURT: Defendant, you appear in this court for sentence, having pleaded guilty in the court below to trafficking in 0.66 of a kilogramme of cocaine, contrary to section 4(1)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 134, Laws of Hong Kong.
The Summary of Facts, which you have today confirmed, establish that you arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on 29 April of this year, on a flight from Caracas via Paris. You were stopped at the Customs and selected for Customs examination, where X-ray and ion analysis was carried out on your rucksack. A positive reading for cocaine was found and when the lining of the rucksack was cut, the drugs being the subject matter of this charge were found.
In a recorded video interview under caution, you told the investigating officers that the rucksack was delivered to you in Venezuela and that when it was delivered, the drugs were already sealed inside and that you planned to take the drugs to China to sell for about US$25,000 in order to clear your debt.
The debt, I am told by your counsel, was in the region of some US$40,000 which had been incurred by you by way of medical fees accumulated by reason of a serious traffic accident that befell you in February of this year when you visited your family in Venezuela. You are unable to pay these medical fees and saw trafficking in these drugs as an easy way out.
Whilst I am told that you do occasionally use cocaine and had intended to use a very small part of this consignment for pain relief which you still suffer from as a result of your accident, Mr Oderberg submits that you are prepared to be sentenced on the basis that you were indeed trafficking in this whole consignment of drugs.
You are 33 years of age, married, with one son. I accept that you are a man of hitherto good character and indeed a resourceful and educated man with no less than three university degrees. It is tragic that you have stupidly succumbed to the temptation of making easy money by involving yourself in this serious offence.
In sentencing you, I take account of all that has been said on your behalf and I have read the letters that you have written to the court in which you frankly admit your guilt and express remorse. The sentencing guidelines for trafficking in cocaine are to be found in Regina v Lau Tak Ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370 as supplemented by HKSAR v Abdallah Anwar Abbas, Court of Appeal No 304/2008. For trafficking in between 600 to 1,200 grammes of cocaine, the starting point for sentence after trial falls between 20 to 23 years’ imprisonment.
In this case, the court is dealing with 660 grammes of narcotic. Accordingly, I adopt 20 years’ imprisonment as my starting point. I will enhance that sentence by 1 year to take account of the aggravating feature that exists by you bringing these drugs into Hong Kong, thereby establishing an international element, coming to 21 years’ imprisonment.
I will give you the full discount of one-third to reflect your plea of guilty, arriving at a sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.