Fadley Faisal

The High Court recently handed a sentence of five years and five months’ jail to a trio who pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing over 356 grams of Methylamphetamine and a drug apparatus.

DPPs Shamshuddin binti Haji Kamaluddin and Hajah Atiyyah Azzahra binti Pehin Dato Haji Abas stated in the facts that Noraini binti Mamudin, Muhammad Zainal bin Haji Jumat and Haziman Ruwaidi bin Abdul Samat were arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau officers upon arrival at the Kuala Lurah Control Post from Limbang on the morning of October 5, 2013.

In the car was a cloth bag containing a packet of 356.4163 grammes of meth and a pouch containing a glass test tube connected to a straw with traces of meth.

Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong observed the lapse of over four years before the defendants went on trial in February 2018, for which they were initially charged with importation of drugs carrying the death penalty.

Eleven witnesses had been produced but the trial was adjourned to July 2018, but did not proceed on that day as the then Chief Justice had retired, and a retrial had been ordered.

On October 8, 2019 the defendants were offered the possession of drugs charge and its consumption apparatus to which they pleaded guilty to immediately.

At the end of the case, the Chief Justice who sat with Judge Radin Safiee bin Radin Mas Basiuni, gave consideration on the substantial delay of the case and took into account the defendant’s instant plea of guilty towards the latest preferred charges and concluded with the jail sentence.

The defendants were represented by lawyers Haji Mohd Daud bin Haji Ismail, Mohd Shazale bin Haji Mat Salleh and Zamri bin Haji Mohd Taha.