PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here, on Monday (Jan 27), acquitted and discharged a former mechanic on a charge of processing 22.02kg of methamphetamine in 2018.
A three-member panel of Justices Datuk Azizah Nawawi, Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid had allowed T. Arujunan’s appeal to overturn his conviction, prison and whipping sentences.
Justice Ahmad Kamal, who delivered the court’s unanimous decision, ruled that the prosecution had failed to link Arujunan, 38, to the house where the drugs were discovered.
He said although the key to the house was found on Arujunan, he only showed the police the location of the house where the drugs were found, adding that there was other evidence which supported Arujunan’s defence.
He said the four men, who were found inside the house, had denied knowing Arujunan.
Justice Ahmad Kamal said that there were also no personal belongings of Arujunan found at the house, as well as no traces of the drugs were found on his (Arujunan’s) clothing or his body.
He said the court agreed with Arujunan’s lawyer’s argument that, although the house in question was used as a place for drug processing, this did not prove his (Arujunan’s) involvement.
Meanwhile, the same panel sentenced four Indian nationals - G. Nareshkumar, 32, S. Sivabalan, 44, R. Manikamdan Ravindren, 35 and S.Satish Kumar Siva Lingan, 39 - to 20 years in prison, with 10 strokes of the cane each, for possession of the drugs.
Justice Ahmad Kamal held that the four men’s convictions for processing the drugs were not safe. He ordered the four men to begin their sentences from the date of their arrest on Nov 27, 2018.
Arujunan and the other four men had initially been sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane each by the High Court, in October 2023, for processing the drugs in a house in Jalan Kemajuan 12/18, Section 12 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, at 6pm on Nov 27, 2018.
Lawyers Datuk N. Sivananthan and Nabilah Habib represented Arujunan, while lawyers Jay Moy and J. Jayarubbiny represented the four men. Deputy public prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karim@Husaini appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
