KUCHING: The High Court today sentenced a 34-year-old man to a total of 31 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for trafficking in a total of 590.05 grammes of cannabis six years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Zaleha Mohd Yusuf Pan meted out the sentence on Zul Akmal Jamaludin after finding him guilty of two charges under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act, as well as Section 6 of the same Act, punishable under Section 6.
For the first charge, under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act, he was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of whipping.
For the second charge, under Section 6 of the same Act, he was sentenced to a year imprisonment.
The court ordered the sentence to run from the date of the accused’s arrest on Mar 19, 2019.
“After hearing submissions from both parties and considering the mitigating factors presented by learned defence counsel, the aggravating factors raised by the deputy public prosecutor, the age of the accused, the paramount interest of the public, established legal principles, as well as prevailing sentencing trends, the court proceeded to deliver its decision,” Zaleha said.
The custodial sentence was imposed after the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
Zul Akmal committed the offence on the same day at about 7.15pm at a house along Jalan Astana, where he was found in possession of and trafficking 590.05 grammes of cannabis during a police raid.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Aida Nurdiana urged the court to impose a commensurate sentence on the accused.
However, defence counsel Osman Ibrahim pleaded for leniency, taking into account the quantity of the drugs seized.
He further requested the court to consider an appropriate sentence by factoring in the period the accused had already spent in remand, and applied for the imprisonment terms to run concurrently.
