PUTRAJAYA, Nov 22 — A former mechanic and a former cosmetician who were found guilty of two counts of trafficking drugs, escaped the gallows today after the Court of Appeal commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment of 30 years.

Justice Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who chaired the three-member bench, reduced the sentence after dismissing the appeals by Lim Teck Hock and Lee Sheue Ning against their convictions.

She said the drugs were indeed found in the bedroom occupied by the two appellants, and that their version that the drugs belonged to two other persons was unreasonable.

Justice Hadhariah, however, said the court used their discretion under the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 (Act 846) to commute the couple’s death sentence to life imprisonment of 30 years for each charge, which to start from November 1, 2018, the date they were arrested.

She also ordered Lim and Lee to serve the jail sentences concurrently which means they will serve 30 years in jail. Lim was spared the rotan as he is over 50 years old.

The other two judges presiding on the bench were Justices Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Azmi Ariffin.

Lim, 63 and Lee, 31, were sentenced to death by the Penang High Court on September 27 last year for trafficking 77.9 grammes of heroin and monoacetylmorphines and 1517.3 grammes of methamphetamine in an apartment in Persiaran Bayan Indah, Bayan Lepas, Penang at 3.20am on November 1, 2018.

Lawyer P. Latsmanan and Hussaini Abdul Rashid representing Lim and Lee respectively submitted that the drugs belonged to two other individuals who were also arrested by police for drug offences.

Latsmanan said the two individuals were staying at the rented apartment a few days before the appellants moved in. He said the couple were not husband and wife but were living together.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fuad Abdul Aziz submitted the drugs belonged to the appellants as it was found in the master bedroom that the couple occupied. — Bernama