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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions >> Ngoie v R [2020] EWCA Crim 292 (05 March 2020) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2020/292.html Cite as: [2020] EWCA Crim 292 |
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ON APPEAL FROM THE CROWN COURT AT HARROW
His Honour Judge M Tregilgas-Davey
Case Ref T20190075
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE GARNHAM
and
HER HONOUR JUDGE MUNRO QC
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Christal Ngoie |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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Regina |
Respondent |
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Mr TS Forster (instructed by The Crown Prosecution Service) for the Respondent
Hearing date: 27 February 2020
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Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Irwin:
On 21st June 2019 (before the same Judge), he was sentenced as follows:
COUNT | OFFENCE | SENTENCE |
1 | Possessing a Controlled Drug of Class A (Heroin) with Intent | 5 ½ years' imprisonment |
2 | Possessing a Controlled Drug of Class A (Crack Cocaine) with Intent | 5 ½ years' imprisonment (concurrent) |
The Facts
"Q. Just deal, first of all, with the people on the pavement.
A. Yes, sorry.
Q. What were they doing?
A. They were reaching in towards the car.
Q. Were they standing up, bending down? You help us.
A. They were bending over the car, towards the front passenger window.
Q. When you say 'they' it's just important that if they were doing something different you tell us, but were they both bending forward?
A. I can't say for certain.
Q. No?
A. No.
Q. You're saying at least one of them?
A. At least one of them, yes.
Q. When you say towards the front passenger window, could you see how close they were to that passenger window?
A. Literally stood less than a metre away; literally right next to it.
Q. Could you at that point see any of the occupants of the car?
A. Not at that point.
Q. Why not?
A. Because we're from the rear, approaching the rear of the car.
Q. Yes?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there anything about the glass that prevented you from seeing anything?
A. Not that I can remember."
"[Body worn footage replayed]
Right, pause there.
A. Yes, you can just see the two people stood next to the car. As you get a little bit closer you can see a little bit better them leaning in.
Q. I'll try …
[Body worn footage replayed]
That may be as good as we get before we get past it.
A. Yes."
"[1st body worn footage replayed]
Can you just point out what you can see?
A. Yes, again, they're both stood next to the window. At that stage I can't see if it's open or not obviously, but there's clearly dialogue going on between the people on the pavement and people in the car."
"Now that may be that they left too soon, but the fact is, we haven't found – the police haven't found any drugs on them, and yes, it's suggested by the Crown that some sort of transaction takes place through the window, but the body worn footage doesn't seem to capture that. I mean there does appear to be someone leaning down towards the window, but I don't think, from my recollection of watching it, you actually see any transaction take pace. So your answer may be [We can't be sure it is a drugs transaction', but even if you say 'Well, no, I can, yes it is', what is Mr Ngoie doing? Not a lot, you may think.
…
Secondly, it's not Christal Ngoie, is it, that is in any sort of discussion; or possible transaction with two pedestrians.
Now the evidence is that if there's a conversation, a conversation was taking place through the front passenger window. That's the eye witness accounts from the officers and that's what we see on the body worn footage. They are standing at the front of the car, by the front passenger window. So if, and again, it's a big if, if anything was passed by the occupants of the vehicle to the two pedestrians, it wasn't Christal Ngoie that did it, because he's in the back, that's not where they are."
"You know that at about 5.30pm on 12 May 2017 police officers wearing Met Police vests in an unmarked police car stopped the Mercedes in Langley Park. Three occupants: Sossongo, who was in the driver's seat; Clarke, who was in the front passenger seat; Ngoie, who was in the rear passenger seat. You heard from Sergeant Martin. He was in the front passenger seat with two other police officers. He said the reason they stopped that vehicle was because when they were in Bunns Lane, and you have got the map, they saw a [inaudible] and dishevelled male and female, he said people who looked like class A drug users, standing next to the Mercedes in Langley Park. He said they were bending down and leaning in to the passenger side of the car.
One thing I must correct about something that Mr Bass said, he said that the evidence was they were leaning in to the front window. That is not the evidence. The evidence from Sergeant Martin was that they were leaning down and in to the passenger side of the car."
"a. As the unmarked police car approached, the two suspected drug users could both be seen bending forwards towards the nearside windows of the parked Mercedes;
b. Because of the angle (which meant the nearside of the Mercedes was out of sight), it was not possible to see whether there was any actual exchange going on and, if so, through which nearside window;
c. Since the two of them were standing side by side, it followed that one would have been nearer the front of the parked car, the two pedestrians were now standing away from the car;
d. By the time the police officers had stopped, left their vehicle and run around to the nearside of the Defendants' car, the two pedestrians were now standing away from the car;
e. The front and rear nearside passenger windows of the Mercedes were both open (although Mr Bass suggests that the rear window was three-quarters raised, the Body Worn Video shows that it was actually mostly lowered)."