8 years’ jail, 10 strokes of rotan for drug possession
KUCHING: A college student was sentenced to eight years in jail and ordered to be given 10 strokes of rotan by a High Court judge here yesterday after he pleaded guilty to possessing 203.18gm cannabis last year.
Azizul Adzhar Ishak, 21, from Taman Sukma also received one year’s jail after pleading guilty to an additional charge for consuming Amphetamine and Methamphetamine.
High Court Judge Chew Soo Ho however ordered Azizul’s custodial sentence to run concurrently, which is to take effect from the date of his arrest.
He was arrested on Aug 17 last year at his house at Taman Sukma where the drug was also found with him and after being found positive when a urine test was conducted on him.
Possessing drug comes under Section 6 of the Drugs Act 1952 and is punishable under Section 39A ( 2) of the same act which provides a life imprisonment and also whipping not less than six strokes.
Self administration of drugs provides a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or to imprisonment term not exceeding two years.
According to the brief facts of the case, a police team raided a house at Taman Sukma which belonged to Azizul’s parents, where they found a man inside a bedroom and conducted a body search on him.
The police found compressed plant material suspected to be cannabis wrapped in transparent plastic and two other packages at another spot in the room.
Also found from the room was a mini weighing scale.
He was arrested for further investigation and a urine test conducted on him was also positive.
In his mitigation yesterday, Azizul who was represented by defence counsel Roger Chin appealed for a lenient sentence because he regretted his past action.
He added that the eight months he spent in prison had been highly traumatic and was already a punishment for him.
Justice Chew in passing the sentence said the mitigation factor should be balanced with public interests.
“I don’t want to send a wrong message to the society as drug offence is serious,” he said. He added that eight years’ imprisonment was appropriate for such offence.
DPP Mahadhir Mohd Khairudin prosecuted the case.