JOHOR BAHRU, Jan 24 — Three friends escaped the gallows after the High Court acquitted them today of two charges of drug trafficking and possession five years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Noor Hayati Mat made the ruling after finding the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against Muhamad Alqayyum Abdul Majid, 30, Nur Hasanah A. Latif, 26, and Mohamad Aizat Omar, 33, at the end of the prosecution case.
“Therefore, the three accused are discharged and acquitted of the two charges without being called to enter a defence,” she said.
Hayati said the prosecution failed to present evidence that the first accused (Muhamad Alqayyum) rented or lived in the third room in an apartment in Taman Cahaya, Kota Puteri, and failed to prove the man handled the drugs found, as there was no evidence of his fingerprints.
“The prosecution failed to submit additional evidence, based on the defence’s suggestion that the plastic container containing drugs was not found on the floor in an open state but was found in the closet,” she said.
The element of common intention was not proven, and the suggestion that the second accused (Nur Hasanah) was sleeping was confirmed by the raid leader, who was the second prosecution witness, although the sixth prosecution witness, who was the investigating officer, disagreed.
On the third accused (Mohamad Aizat), Hayati said the fact that the third accused was not present during the raid and was not proven to stay permanently in the third room created a gap in the narrative of the prosecution’s case and the element of common intention also failed to be proven.
Apart from that, the third room may be accessible to other people as several individuals are often in the house; besides, the issue of the access card not being seized from any of the accused raises questions about whether only they had access to the house.
Deputy public prosecutor Siti Norliza Abdullah appeared for the prosecution, while lawyers Manian K. Marappan and Harpreet Kaur Gill represented Alqayyum, Nisrina Atirah Abd Razak represented Hasanah, and N. Mariappan represented Aizat.
Six prosecution witnesses testified in the trial, which commenced on September 18 last year.
The trio were charged together with distributing 204.76g of cannabis in the apartment at 2.35pm on September 17, 2019.
The charge was framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which can be punished under Section 39(B) of the same law and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for death by hanging or life imprisonment with 12 strokes of the rattan, upon conviction.
They were also accused of having in their possession 3.09g of ketamine and were charged under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which is punishable under Section 12(3) of the same law, which provides for a maximum prison sentence of five years or a fine not exceeding RM100,000, or both if convicted.
— Bernama
