A three-member bench, chaired by Justice Noorin Badaruddin, allowed Chin Wei Ling’s appeal after noting from the evidence that she had only agreed to plead guilty to possession of methamphetamine.

The High Court in Taiping last year sentenced Chin to 30 years’ jail for trafficking in 222.5gm of the drug, better known as syabu.

“We feel her previous counsel, who represented her, had a conflict of interest. The conviction and sentence are set aside,” said Noorin, who sat with Justices Radzi Abdul Hamid and Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid.

The bench then ordered that an arrest warrant be issued and directed that Chin, a mother of two, be held in custody pending the outcome of her case in the High Court.

Chin’s case will be mentioned in the Taiping High Court on Dec 8.

Earlier today, lawyer Kitson Foong, representing Chin, told the Court of Appeal that his client had been jointly charged with another man for trafficking, with the latter footing the legal fees for both.

The duo were caught with the drugs at a house in Kamunting, Perak, at about 11pm on March 7, 2023.

Foong said Chin, 37, had been misled by her former lawyer into pleading guilty in the High Court to what she thought was a possession charge, which carries a prison term of seven to 10 years, without the assistance of a Mandarin interpreter.

Court records revealed that Chin’s previous counsel then used her cautioned statement as a defence exhibit to show she was in possession of the drugs.

“The lawyer had also used her statement to imply that the man (Chin’s co-accused) had nothing to do with the case,” he said.

Foong said the trial judge was informed subsequently that the prosecution had accepted the man’s representations for the trafficking charge against him to be withdrawn.

Deputy public prosecutor Fuad Abdul Aziz represented the prosecution.