Imprisonment for five years for drug offences and permanent expulsion

Case no. 88/2023
Judgment delivered on 7 February 2024

The Prosecution Service
vs.
T

T, a Somali citizen, and four other offenders had possessed, processed and resold no less than 1 kg of cocaine to a large group of people and against a substantial payment. He had also escaped from the police while in pre-trial detention.

The High Court sentenced him to imprisonment for four years and six months and expulsion from Denmark with a 12-year entry ban.

The Supreme Court increased the prison sentence to five years, referring to the facts that T had played a significant role in a professionally organised drug network and had also escaped from the police.

With regard to the issue of expulsion, and considering the nature and extent of the drug offences committed, the Supreme Court held that T was to be considered a serious threat to public order and security. The Supreme Court based its decision on the fact that T’s ties with Denmark were much stronger than his ties with Somalia, but that he would not be entirely unable to fit into Somali society if he were expelled.

Considering the nature and extent of the drug crime committed by him, the Supreme Court found on the basis of an overall proportionality assessment that there were compelling reasons for expelling T. In addition, his ties with Denmark, where he had not married and settled down, and his limited ties with Somalia, did not carry such weight that expulsion in itself would be a disproportionate restriction in contravention of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. T was therefore ordered to leave Denmark.

The question was then whether he should be issued a permanent or a limited entry ban. The Supreme Court stated that expelling T permanently would not amount to a disproportionate restriction in contravention of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, especially considering that T had been sentenced to a long term of imprisonment for serious drug offences, and that he had been cautioned that continuing his criminal activities could result in expulsion when he was sentenced to suspended expulsion at the age of 17 in 2018.