HKSAR v. Manzano Mendoza Omaira Pastora

HCCC 362/2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 362 OF 2013

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: Stand up, Madam Pastora. Is that your family name, Pastora?

ACCUSED: No.

COURT: Is it Manzano?

ACCUSED: Manzano Mendoza.

COURT: Thank you. Very well, this is my sentence and the reasons for it and I would appreciate it, gentlemen, if you would just do the calculations at the end and reassure me that they are correct. I think they are; they are quite simple.

The defendant, a 50-year-old Venezuelan female, pleaded guilty before me to an offence of trafficking in 660 grammes of cocaine. She had been arrested as the result of a routine stop and search by Hong Kong Airport Customs Officers who found the drugs contained in packets concealed in layers of her underclothing as she attempted to pass through the green Nothing to Declare channel.

Bearing in mind the guidelines set down in R v Lau Tak Ming & Ors [1990] 2 HKLR at 370, as applied to cocaine by the Attorney General v Pedro Nel Rojas [1994] 1 HKC 342, I take a starting point of sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment. That is enhanced to one of 21 years’ imprisonment to reflect the international importation of the drugs.

The only mitigation of substance available to the defendant is her plea of guilty and she will get full credit for that. Her role as an evangelical Christian who wished to became a missionary seems at odds with the offence and though she explains this in her statements to police, by stating she came under pressure from acquaintances of her pastor to commit the offence, that pressure apparently fell well short of duress.

Accordingly, allowing the defendant credit for plea, that starting point is reduced to a sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.