PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has upheld the 30-year prison sentence imposed on a former hotel employee for two counts of trafficking cannabis and one count of possession, while ordering his caning punishment meted out in full.
A three-judge panel led by Justice Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali dismissed the appeal filed by Ilham Utama Sawai Suardi on Wednesday (May 28), maintaining the Seremban High Court's ruling that found him guilty of the offences.
Sitting alongside Justices Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, Justice Ruzima said the defence failed to raise any issues warranting appellate intervention.
"We find that the High Court did not err in concluding that the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case,” he said.
However, the appellate court allowed the prosecution’s appeal on sentencing, specifically the caning, ruling that the 12 strokes of the cane for each trafficking charge be carried out consecutively, for a total of 24 strokes.
Ilham, 30, was convicted by the High Court in December 2023 on three charges involving cannabis.
He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for possession of 10.58g of cannabis.
For trafficking 373.80g and 560.34g of cannabis, he was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for each charge.
The offences were committed on April 12, 2020, at around 3.30pm in the parking lot of a hotel and later at 4.15pm at a house in Taman Temiang Jaya, both in Seremban.
The High Court had earlier ordered the jail terms and caning sentences to run concurrently. Ilham still has the option to appeal to the Federal Court.
In today’s proceedings, Ilham was represented by lawyer Datuk Hanif Hasan, while DPP Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
