Australian granny’s acquittal overturned, sentenced to death
PUTRAJAYA: An Australian grandmother Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto was given the death penalty by the Court of Appeal here yesterday for trafficking in 1142.8gm of methamphetamine which was stitched into the compartment of a backpack she was carrying.
A three-man bench led by Justice Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki convicted Exposto on the drug trafficking charge after allowing the prosecution’s appeal to reverse the Shah Alam High Court’s decision, which had acquitted and discharged her.
“We fi nd that there is merits in the appeal. We allow the appeal and set aside the acquittal,” he said adding that Exposto had been convicted on the charge.
He said the only penalty for the offence was death by hanging.
“However, there is another round of appeal. I wish you luck,” Justice Mohtarudin told Exposto who looked composed.
The other two judges were Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.
The 55-year- old mother of three was charged with trafficking in the drugs at the passengers’ inspection branch 1 ( CPP1) at the International Arrival hall in the main terminal of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport ( KLIA) at about 3.40 pm on Dec 7, 2014.
Exposto, in her defence, claimed that she was tricked into smuggling the drugs into Malaysia after falling for an online romance scam and did not have knowledge about the drugs.
On Dec 27, last year, the Shah Alam High Court acquitted Exposto after accepting her defence that she did not know that the bag, which was given to her by a man called Tega Collins at the Shanghai airport, China, contained drugs.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Azmi Mashud argued that the woman’s conduct of agreeing to carry the bag to be brought to Melbourne, Australia, showed that her act was of ‘wilful blindness’.
Exposto’s counsel Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that she was an innocent carrier and was not part of a drug syndicate. — Bernama
We find that there is merits in the appeal. We allow the appeal and set aside the acquittal. Justice Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki