IPOH: A 42-year-old woman wept tears of joy after she was acquitted and discharged of five counts of drug related charges while her husband was sentenced by a High Court here to 10 years in prison.
Faizah Abdul Rahman, 42, was relieved when judge Abdul Wahab Mohamed read his decision on Tuesday (Nov 16).
However, her husband Abu Samah Mohd Sohaimi, 48, and his friend Amirul Fitri Mohd Yusop, 41, were sentenced to 10 and eight years in prison respectively for possessing various different types of drugs two years ago.
Both of them decided to plead guilty on the second day of the trial on Tuesday (Nov 16).
Initially, they were charged under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
However, in March this year, the lawyers had submitted a request to the Attorney General’s Chambers for an amended charge of possession instead.
Abu Samah, a labourer, and Amirul, a foreman, were also ordered to be given 10 strokes of the rotan each, while their jail term would run concurrently starting from the date of arrest on July 20, 2019.
According to the amended charge sheet, the three were arrested at a house in Kampung Sungai Semak in Hutan Melintang on July 20, 2019 at about 2.30am for trafficking 15.3g of heroin and monoacetylmorphine.
For the remaining four other amended charges at the same location, date and time, they were charged with possessing 0.36g of etizolam tablets, 0.21g of cannabis, 2.04g of meth, and 1.76g of heroin and monoacetylmorphine.
Counsel V. Santhiran represented Faizah, lawyer Ranjit Singh Sandhu represented Abu Samah, and P. Ravee represented Amirul.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Fajrul Shihar Abu Samah requested that the court impose appropriate sentences.
Ranjit, during mitigation, said his client was a labourer who earned RM1,000 per month and has three children, while Ravee said his client earned about RM3,000 and is a divorcee.
Both the lawyers also said that the accused had saved the court’s time by pleading guilty.