R v UNG [2010] NSWDC 181

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v UNG [2010] NSWDC 181

HEARING DATE(S): 2 July 2010 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 2 July 2010

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: The offender is sentenced to imprisonment for six and one-half years with a non-parole period of four years.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Drug importation - Heroin

PARTIES: The Crown Hoang UNG

FILE NUMBER(S): DC 2009/00212494

SOLICITORS: Director of Public Prosecutions Legal Aid Commission

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Hoang Phuc Ung got into a bit of financial difficulty through his gambling. He began borrowing money and because those who lent it to him were charging quite high interest, it soon got to the stage where he could not pay back what he owed. He says that it was at that stage that some people threatened him, and his family as well, that if he did not do what they said he should, he would be harmed, but that, if he did comply with their demands, his debt would be wiped. It was in those circumstances, the offender says, that he left Australia, went back to his country of birth, Vietnam, and returned with a substantial quantity of heroin.

2 He came to the attention of customs officers on the morning of 20 September 2009 after he returned from Vietnam. Those officers noticed that the shoes he was wearing appeared to be unusually high. They attempted to conduct a search of the accused at which point he made admissions. He told them not only were there narcotics concealed within his shoes, but there were also narcotics internally concealed.

3 Police came and interviewed him briefly. The offender told them that he had swallowed some objects and that someone had paid him money to bring both those objects and items hidden in his shoes. Between the time of his arrival in Australia and 23 September 2009, the offender passed a total of 133 foreign objects.