The appellate court quashed the drug trafficking conviction by the High Court in Alor Setar last year on Melinda Stevenson, 43, saying the prosecution had failed to present the drugs as evidence before the High Court judge.
Stevenson’s lawyer K Simon Murali said a three-member appellate panel led by Abdul Rahman Sebli unanimously acquitted her after finding no positive identification of the drugs in the case as required.
Simon said during Stevenson’s trial at the High Court in Alor Setar, the evidence was brought in for identification when the court stood down for 25 minutes. He said the court stood down specifically to allow the witnesses, the accused and the prosecutors to identify the evidence against Stevenson.
He added that the customs officer who arrested Stevenson and seized the drugs from her failed to identify the evidence in the presence of a judge.
“My argument was, this process is wrong. The evidence of positive identification must be done in the presence of the judge while trial is in session.
“It cannot be done in the absence of the judge while the case is stood down, as this is important to prove the chain of evidence in cases such as this.
“The Court of Appeal agreed with me. It was a unanimous decision that the prosecution had failed to prove the subject matter of the charge, i.e. the identity of the drug exhibits,” he told FMT.
Simon said Stevenson is now free and being held by immigration in Putrajaya before she is deported. He said it is likely that the public prosecutors will seek an appeal against Stevenson’s acquittal at the Federal Court and that she may be further detained.
Stevenson, who had travelled from Singapore to Langkawi, was found by officers at the Langkawi International Airport to have trafficked 2.6kg of methamphetamine concealed in a secret compartment of her luggage on Oct 12, 2014.
She claimed trial at the Magistrate’s Court in Langkawi to trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 on Oct 19, 2014.
Judicial commissioner Abu Bakar Katar sentenced Stevenson to death at the High Court in Alor Setar on March 13 last year.