Mechanic acquitted of drug charge rushes home to celebrate Syawal with mum

MELAKA: A 37-year-old mechanic wasted no time in rushing home to celebrate his "first day of Hari Raya" shortly after the High Court here acquitted him and two others of drug trafficking charges.

Muhammad Abdul Rahman told his lawyers Haresh Mahadevan and Ramzani Ismail that he needed to get home to Masjid Tanah here to celebrate the festival with his mother as the month of Syawal ends on Thursday (May 9).

"My client loves his mother very much and wanted to return home as soon as he was a free man to spend Hari Raya with her.

"He is still a bachelor and an only child and took care of his single mother before he was detained in February 2021," Haresh said when interviewed here on Wednesday (May 8).

He said Muhammad was eager to return home and left the courthouse soon after thanking the judge and his lawyers.

"Today is his first Hari Raya after almost four years away from home," he added.

Earlier, Justice Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid discharged and acquitted Muhammad, Mohd Fadzli Abd Razak, 44, and Yusri Awang, 38, after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against them at the end of its case.

He said the prosecution also failed to prove the element of common intention by the three to traffic the substance while the first and second accused were not the owner of the car where the drugs were discovered and no fingerprint evidence of the three was found.

The three, all self-employed, were charged with a common intention to traffic 162.35g of methamphetamine at a parking bay at the Road Transport Department in Bukit Katil here at 1.55pm on Feb 1, 2021.

The charge against all three was framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same law, and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides the death sentence upon conviction.

Mohd Fadzli was represented by Asmawi Ismail and Yusri by Andrew Lourdes.

Six prosecution witnesses testified in the trial.