Factory operator sentenced to death for selling drugs

JOHOR BARU: A factory operator was sentenced to death by the High Court here after being found guilty of peddling 6,851gms of cannabis in January last year.

Judge Datuk Mohd Soffian Abd Razak sentenced R. Ravi, 26, who works in Singapore, after the defence failed to prove a reasonable doubt at the end of their case.

In his judgement, Mohd Soffian said, the defence including the accused himself was just defensive during the proceedings.

He added that the accused claims that he did not know there was a white paper bag with drugs was not consistent with the prosecution's witness, a traffic policeman's testimony.

"The accused was said to have driven his brother's car, a BMW and was asked to fetch his sister in law who had arrived earlier from Kuantan at Larkin Bus Terminal. He was found driving in the wrong lane before being pulled over by the traffic policeman who then asked for his IC and driving licence," Mohd Soffian said.

"According to the witness the accused failed to produce his IC and licence and only showed his international passport. He looked nervous when the police wanted to summon him and appeared to be hiding something. This caused suspicion and the policeman wanted to inspect the vehicle," he added.

The accused then tried to stop the policeman from opening the back door of the car. When the paper bag with the drugs was found in the car, the accused started begging for the matter to be "settled".

Mohd Soffian said the sister in law of the accused, who was the defence witness, failed to prove that she was on the bus during the incident when the accused was asked to fetch her.

Based on the charge sheet, Ravi was accused of selling drugs at Jalan Tebrau towards Johor Baru about 7.10pm on January 27, 2016.

He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) Dangerous Drugs Act 1953 and can be sentenced according to Section 39B(2) of the same Act where if found guilty, faces the mandatory death sentence.

Prosecution was by deputy prosecutor Norafiah Saini who brought in four witnesses throughout the trial proceedings, while the accused was represented by R. Subash.