PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has on Friday (Jan 23) acquitted and discharged a housewife of trafficking 80.6g of heroin and monoacetylmorphine.
A three-man bench, led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah, set aside Siti Aisyah Samdin’s conviction and 30-year jail sentence previously imposed by the Seremban High Court.
"We set aside the conviction and sentence by the High Court, and the accused is acquitted and discharged,” Justice Azman said. Sitting with him were Court of Appeal judge Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing and High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh.
In delivering the court’s unanimous decision, Justice Azman said the prosecution’s failure to call the owner of the vehicle in which the drugs were found was fatal, given that the appellant had borrowed the vehicle and was shortly arrested afterwards.
He said there was a misdirection in the conviction in terms of the exclusiveness and control of the vehicle.
Siti Aisyah, who will be 38 next month, was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment by the High Court on July 24, 2024.
According to the charge sheet, the offence was committed in a BMW car at a parking area near TF Value-Mart KIP Mart, in Taman Lavender Heights, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, at 5.15pm on Aug 12, 2020.
The facts of the case reveal that police conducting surveillance detained Siti Aisyah, who was carrying a baby and appeared restless, frequently glancing around her surroundings without any apparent purpose.
In her defence, the mother of five children said she had borrowed the car from her husband’s first wife.
Siti Aisyah said she went to Semenyih to collect some items and then stopped by the mart briefly to buy necessities for her six-month-old baby before being arrested.
At the Court of Appeal, Siti Aisyah was represented by lawyers Paul Krishnaraja, Amy Chong and Virochean Stephan Soosai, while Deputy Public Prosecutors Mohamed Aznin Mohamed Ariff and Mohd Zain Ibrahim appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
