The prosecution, led by deputy public prosecutor Rahimah Abd Majid, had asked for the court to give the accused a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, after it was determined that a police officer who testified last week had lied.

However, Kim’s lawyer Gobind Singh Deo had argued today that his 20-year-old client should not just be discharged but get a full acquittal after the police officer had admitted to lying in court.

“After taking into account submissions by both parties, I hereby acquit and discharge the accused,” Judge Abu Bakar Jais was quoted as saying by the daily.

Kim had faced the mandatory death penalty after he was charged with trafficking cannabis last year. Police had arrested him when they found him in possession of 219g of the banned substance at an apartment in Bandar Baru Nilai on Oct 19 last year.

In his submission today, Gobind told the court that the 27-year-old police officer’s admission had proven that he was not a credible witness.

“He brazenly lied. It was only after we challenged and told him that we would initiate contempt proceedings against him as we had evidence he was lying, did he admit to it,” he said, referring to the officer who had led the raid on the apartment.

According to The Star, in last week’s court proceedings, the officer had initially testified that Kim was alone in the apartment when the raid took place.

However, he later admitted to lying, when the defence said they had a CCTV recording which showed there was another individual in handcuffs present, after the police raid had taken place.