Editor’s note: In our earlier report, UCSL was inadvertently referred to as UCSI. It has since been rectified.
A three-member bench chaired by Rohana Yusuf spared Suhailah Abdullah’s life due to a “miscarriage of justice” by the High Court which was later affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Rohana said the conviction for trafficking was unsafe as the trial judge failed to evaluate the evidence of the defence as required under Section 182A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
“We find that the Court of Appeal had also failed to consider her defence,” she said in a virtual hearing that ended late yesterday evening.
However, Rohana added, Suhailah could not “shut her eyes to the obvious” that she was an innocent carrier.
“This defence should also have been considered by the High Court and the Court of Appeal,” said Rohana who sat with Abdul Rahman Sebli and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.
She added that there was also no affirmative findings of trafficking by both lower courts.
“Therefore, there is a miscarriage of justice by the trial judge and later affirmed by the Court of Appeal,” she said, adding that the bench found Suhailah guilty of possession.
She was sentenced to 10 years’ jail after the bench heard aggravating and mitigating factors.
The 48-year-old, who was employed at the UCSL Subang Jaya, broke down in tears after the final verdict.
K Rakhbir Singh represented Suhailah while Nahra Dollah and Zaki Asyraf Zubir prosecuted.
The bench and the prosecution were in Putrajaya. K Rakhbir was in Kota Kinabalu while Suhailah was in Kajang prison.
Suhailah had given her consent to have the remote proceedings under unusual circumstances as an appellant still in jail must otherwise be brought to court for a physical hearing.
On May 27, 2013, Suhailah was found with 959.5gm of methamphetamine which was stored in a luggage that she was carrying. She had arrived in Kota Kinabalu from New Delhi, with a transit stop in Singapore.
Customs officers at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) discovered a greenish substance inside the luggage when it was scanned.
Suhailah was found guilty and sentenced to death by the High Court in June 2016 while the Court of Appeal affirmed the findings and the sentence on August 2018.
Rakhbir told FMT that Suhailah should be out of prison in two or three months after taking into account the one-third remission given to inmates for good behaviour.
Meanwhile, a former wireman failed in his bid today to set aside his death penalty for trafficking 113.67gm of methamphetamine four years ago.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Has Zanah Mehat said the High Court did not err in law and fact in convicting M Mugilan.
“We find the conviction is safe after going through the notes of evidence, written judgment and oral submissions by counsel,” said Has Zanah who sat with Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Hashim Hamzah.
High Court judge Azman Abdullah sentenced him to death on Sept 8, 2018.
He committed the offence at Jalan Jinjang Utama in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur at about 9.15pm on March 29, 2017.
The facts of the case revealed he was riding a motorcycle and was stopped by two policemen who were on their rounds. They found the drugs in 14 plastic packets in the front basket of the motorcycle.
Haffidin Ahmad Hafifi represented Mugilan while DPP Mohd Khusairy Ibrahim prosecuted.