GALLOWS FOR EX-TEACHER
Court replaces 14-year jail sentence with death penalty in new hearing
AFORMER private school teacher broke out in tears when the High Court sentenced her to death by hanging on a drug trafficking charge, yesterday.
Suhaila Abdullah, 44, from Johor, seemed calm in the dock at first when Judge Datuk Nurchaya Arshad meted out the capital punishment.
Clad in black tudung and a baju kurung, she, however, appeared to be in a daze as she left the dock and wept while being whisked away from the courtroom by a prison officer.
Suhaila shielded her face from the media with a file and was heard sobbing as her counsel Datuk Seri Rakhbir Singh comforted her and explained the judge’s decision.
In her judgment, Nurchaya said the court found the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case after assessing and re-evaluating the evidence of both parties.
“Therefore the prosecution has proven this case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused on the charge under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
“For the above reason, I find the accused still be as charged and will be sentenced to death by hanging by the neck until dead,” she said.
Suhaila was arrested at Terminal Two of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport with 959.9g of drugs in her possession at 11.15am on May 27, 2013. She was initially charged under Section 39B, which carries the mandatory death penalty.
The charge was amended to possession on March 17, 2015, and Suhaila was sentenced to 14 years’ jail after she pleaded guilty to possession of drugs at the Court of Appeal.
The offence for drug possession, framed under Section 12, and punishable under Section 39A(2)(r) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, carries life imprisonment of not less than five years, and not fewer than 10 strokes of the cane.
The prosecution, however, objected the Appeals Court’s decision and the case was redirected to the High Court for the accused to enter her defence on the initial charge of drug trafficking.
Rakhbir, when met outside the court, said they would appeal against the death sentence after the Hari Raya celebration.
Deputy public prosecutor for the Customs Department Gan Peng Kun prosecuted.