Ameng to go free with a fine after court sets aside jail term

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here on Friday set aside the two months' jail, but upheld the RM4,000 fine, meted out by a magistrate on Wan Aminuddin Wan Ismail or better known as Ameng Spring, the lead singer of pop group Spring for consuming drugs.

Ameng is currently at the Kluang Prison in Johor where he is serving an eight years' jail sentence, meted out by the Malacca Sessions Court on April 12 last year after he was found guilty of inserting drug into his body.

He was also ordered to be given 10 strokes of the rotan.

Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, in his judgment, said on Friday that the magistrate had erred in interpreting Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drug Act when handing down the sentence on Wan Aminuddin, 42, on Nov 1 last year.

He said, according to the section, the magistrate could impose either the jail sentence or fine and not both.

Mohamad Zabidin said he agreed with the appellant, represented by lawyer Kamarul Zaman Abdul Rahman, that the magistrate could only mete out the jail sentence or fine.

He also ruled that the prosecution had met the provision in Section 399 of the Criminal procedure Code in handing documents to the defence 10 days before the trial.

Prior to that, Kamarul Zaman said that the conviction against Ameng should be set aside on grounds that the prosecution had failed to submit a report on his client's urine test.

Deputy public prosecutor Faizah Mohd Salleh said the prosecution gave the report to Ameng and the singer signed it, but that the police did not record the date.

On May 12 last year, Ameng pleaded not guilty to consuming drugs at the office of the Narcotics Investigations Division, Sentul police headquarters, at 3.45pm on April 2.

He was charged under Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which provides for a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or jail up to two years, if convicted. - Bernama