Court of Appeal spares two men gallows, orders 30 years jail plus 12 rotan strokes

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 21 — Two men escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal substituted their death sentences with 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane each for drug trafficking.

The decision was made by a three-member panel comprising Datuk Azmi Ariffin (now a Federal Court judge), Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, who dismissed Muhamad Nor Aziz and Muhamad Shafiq Aliff Mazlan’s appeals against their convictions.

However, the panel allowed the men’s appeals to set aside the death sentences and replace them with 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane each, with the prison terms taking effect from the date of their arrest on Aug 24, 2019.

In their grounds of judgment dated Aug 11 this year, Judge Meor Hashimi said the trial judge’s two-year delay in preparing the grounds of judgment did not amount to excessive delay that had prejudiced either appellant.

“In our view, the mere allegation by counsel, without strong evidence of a miscarriage of justice or failure of justice on the part of the trial judge, is insufficient to set aside a conviction,” he said.

Judge Meor Hashimi said the two appellants had instead received a fair and impartial trial and were given adequate opportunity to defend themselves by the trial judge.

He said the Court of Appeal panel had also examined the trial judge’s grounds of judgment and found no misdirection in the assessment of the witnesses’ conduct, nor any omission by the trial judge in evaluating the material facts of the case.

The judge said the prosecution witness who acted as an “agent provocateur” had also given credible and consistent evidence, establishing the involvement of both appellants, with a common intention, in the drug trafficking offence.

Muhamad Nor Aziz, 40, a mechanic, and Muhamad Shafiq Aliff Mazlan, 34, a lorry driver, were found guilty by the High Court on Oct 21, 2022 of trafficking 32.5 grammes of heroin and 45.2 grammes of monoacetylmorphines.

For the charge of possessing 895.9 grammes of Etizolam, the two men were also sentenced to two years in prison each, with the sentences taking effect from Aug 24, 2019, the date of their arrest.

They were charged with committing the offences in a Perodua Myvi at Jalan Kepong-Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, at 7.27pm on Aug 24, 2019.

The two men subsequently filed appeals at the Court of Appeal against their convictions and the death sentences imposed for the drug trafficking offence. — Bernama