Brothers escape gallows after Court of Appeal overturns drug conviction

PUTRAJAYA: Two brothers escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal here set aside their conviction and death sentence for trafficking in 986.10g of cannabis.

The three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, Datuk Wira Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Datuk Lim Chong Fong allowed the appeals by S. Rubanraaj and S.Nagaraja after ruling that their appeals had merit.

In the court's decision, Justice Hanipah said the High Court judge was duty-bound to consider all evidence before him but in this case, he failed to comply with Section 182A of the Criminal Procedure Code for not considering the defence case which amounted to a miscarriage of justice.

She said that based on the totality of the evidence adduced before the High Court judge, the conviction of Rubanraaj, 27 and Nagaraj, 35, were unsafe.

Both men, who were car repossessors, were found guilty of trafficking the drug and sentenced to death by the High Court on Feb 27, 2020.

They were alleged to have committed the offence at a parking area of Prima Bayu Apartment in Jalan Batu Unjur, Taman Bayu Perdana, Klang, Selangor at 10pm on April 26, 2018.

Lawyer Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi representing Rubanraaj and Nagaraj submitted that there was an insufficient judicial appreciation of evidence by the High Court judge pertaining to the police reports and statutory declarations by the defence witnesses.

He said the judge was wrong to say that the defence of his clients was bare denial and an afterthought.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karim argued that both men had the common intention to commit the crime and the High Court judge had evaluated the evidence.

She said although the High Court judge did not refer to the police reports, it did not affect the prosecution's case.- Bernama