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One of the suitcases where the cocaine was found |
The Court of Appeal today quashed a Filipina’s conviction, but dismissed the appeals against the conviction of her two co-accused in a 2015 drug trafficking case that brought them jail terms of 20 to 24 years.
The three were convicted of drug-related charges on Nov. 14, 2017 for bringing four kilos of cocaine
into Hong Kong in September 2015. They flew in together from Manila, along with
another Filipina, who was also charged but acquitted.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Court Vice President Andrew Macrae, speaking for the three-justice court that also included Justice of Appeal Kevin Zervos and JA Maggie Poon, reserved judgment on whether or not to hold a retrial for Shirley Chua, 53 years old.
Pending a decision on this, Chua was remanded in jail custody.
Justice Macrae
gave both the prosecution and defense lawyers six months to submit their
opinions on whether or not another trial should be held, considering that Chua
had been in jail for seven years and eight months of her sentence of 20 years
and 11 months.
She was
returned to jail to await the final verdict.
The court left untouched the jail terms of two others who had been found guilty of conspiring to traffic in a dangerous drug -- Remelyn Roque who is serving a sentence of 22 years and 11 months and Ana Louella Creus, 24 years and five months.
It rejected
the assertion of their defense counsel that the original judge of the case, Justice
Audrey Campbell-Moffat, had erred in giving orders to the jury in the 16-day trial
in 2017.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The case began when Chua was arrested with Maricel Thomas on the night of Sept. 25, 2015 when they arrived at the Hong Kong airport from Manila. Their suitcases each contained a kilo of cocaine. Thomas was acquitted of all charges because she joined the trip to Hong Kong only as a substitute for an original member of the group who changed his mind a day before departure.
Their two companions, Roque and Creus, managed to leave the
airport and turn over their suitcases to two black men in a lift lobby in Chung
King Mansions the next day. They were arrested at the airport two days later as
they were about to take their flights back to Manila.
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In the trial, it emerged that Roque was the one who asked the three others to join her in a free trip to Hong Kong as luggage couriers. She pointed to a Nora Noora as the one who contacted her to organize the group, bought their air tickets and gave them shopping money of $1,500 each.
With the information Roque provided, Noora was arrested by
Philippine authorities, along with Laguna-based Ugandan drug lord Rufus Katumba
and his wife Marilyn Ramos.
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE |
A letter from the Philippine Consulate General was also presented
to Justice Campbell-Moffat, saying the information provided by the defendants had
helped stop cocaine trafficking from Manila to Hong Kong.
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| PADALA NA! |
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