Four sentenced to death for drug trafficking
Actual possession has been established, the presumption of trafficking was triggered which the four accused persons failed to rebut on a balance of probabilities.
Judge Dr Lim Hock Leng
SIBU: Three locals and a China national were sentenced to death by the High Court here yesterday after they were found guilty of two drug trafficking charges.
They were Lee Ee Feng, 27, Henry Wong Chun Kiet, 28, Rina Abdullah, 28, and Zhang Hai Ting, 28.
They faced two charges under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which is punishable under Subsection 39B(2) of the same act, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The Section provides for a death penalty or jail for life. If the accused are not sentenced to death, they would be whipped not less than 15 strokes.
They were also found guilty of six drug possession charges under Section 12(2) of Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which is punishable under Section 12(3) of the same Act, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The section provides for a fine not exceeding RM100,000 or maximum five years’ jail or both upon conviction.
In passing the sentence, Judge Dr Lim Hock Leng said the prosecution had proven the case beyond reasonable doubt.
He said the identity and weight of the drugs, actual possession and common intention had been established.
“Actual possession has been established, the presumption of trafficking was triggered which the four accused persons failed to rebut on a balance of probabilities.
“In so holding, the Court has considered the issues and defence raised by learned counsel for the accused persons including the alleged inadmissibility of the witness statements, break in the chain of evidence, absence of any pre-planning and that the caution was not administered, the search was conducted in the absence of the accused, the non-production of CCTV recording, the police report could not be varied by parol evidence, apart from among others, the evidence relating to the broken doorknob,” he said.
He thus sentenced the four accused to death for the two drug trafficking charges under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
He said there was no evidence and none was offered of assistance rendered to any enforcement agency in the disruption of drug trafficking activity.
For drug possession charges, they were sentenced to between one year and three years’ jail - to run concurrently.
The accused were arrested at 11.45am on July 13, 2019 after a police team raided a house at Lorong Wong King Huo here.
Based on the news report, the arrest led to the seizure of various types of drugs worth about RM229,410.
Meanwhile, the accused were represented by Jacob Wong and Augustine Liom.
Deputy public prosecutors Yong Suk Hui, Rex Heng Yi Min and Mohammed Ali Hussein prosecuted the case.