Ukrainian woman gets life sentence for drug trafficking
GEORGE TOWN: A 24-year-old Ukrainian woman was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday after the High Court here found her guilty of trafficking 1.54kg of drugs, three years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed meted out the sentence after allowing the prosecution's appeal, led by DPP Naizatul Zima Tajudin against the accused, Lopatkina Klavdiia.
Klavdiia was acquitted and discharged by the High Court for the charge on Dec 15 last year, however, the prosecution filed an appeal at the Putrajaya Court of Appeal and the court (Appeal) then ordered the accused to defend herself.
In his ruling, Abdul Wahab said the accused had ample time to look into the contents of the two plastic packages she had brought with her on the flight via Dubai to Kuala Lumpur, and onwards to Penang.
"The accused is seen to have closed her eyes from finding out about the contents of two packets of plastic that she was carrying throughout the flight and did not take the opportunity to look at the contents of the package which she claims contained chocolates," he said.
Klavdiia was charged with distributing 1.54kg of cocaine at the Domestic Arrival Hall of the Penang International Airport at 11 am, Dec 31, 2015.
The woman was charged under Section 39B (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable under Section 39B (2) of the same Act which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
When she was arrested in 2015, Klavdiia, represented by lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan and Low Huey Theng, was a month pregnant, and she gave birth to a baby girl in August 2016 while in remand. - Bernama