SIBU: A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of rotan after being convicted of drug trafficking.
High Court judge Wong Siong Tung on Thursday (March 12) also ordered that the accused Wong Kieng Li serves the sentence from the date of his arrest which was on December 12, 2023.
In finding the accused guilty for the offence, Justice Wong ruled that the prosecution led by DPP Mark Kenneth Neto had adduced credible evidence sufficient to establish a prima facie case against the accused.
The sentence was meted out after considering the accused's mitigating factor, the quantity of the drug involved and public interest.
Kieng Li was charged under Section 39B(1) (a) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 for trafficking 717.87gm of Methamphetamine at about 5pm on December 12, 2023, in a car parked at the roadside of Jalan Oya.
The Section carries a death sentence or imprisonment for life and if not sentenced to death, be punished with whipping of not less than twelve strokes.
Defence counsel Darren Ling represented the accused.
