KUALA LUMPUR: A man and his Vietnamese girlfriend have been sentenced by the High Court to 30 years in jail after they were found guilty of trafficking 173kg of methamphetamine four years ago.
Justice Nurulhuda Nur'aini Mohamad Nor handed the sentence to fisherman Adam Tan Seng Tek, 34, and Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, 33, after ruling that the couple failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.
The court ordered the jail time to run from the date of arrest on Feb 24, 2022, and that Tan receive 12 strokes of the cane.
The court's decision was translated to Mandarin and Vietnamese by court interpreters to Tan and Nguyen as they stood in the dock.
In her broad grounds of judgment, Justice Nurulhuda said the prosecution had successfully established the elements of possession and knowledge through direct evidence, giving rise to the statutory presumption of trafficking.
She said one basis for calling the defence was the screenshots and photos of personal effects - a blanket and a red box - found in the same room where the boxes containing drugs were placed.
"During the defence stage, the accused admitted that the black-and-white striped cloth (the blanket) and the red box belonged to them," she said.
Justice Nurulhuda also said that a man involved in the case, known as Apii, entered the condominium building and registered his details in the visitors' logbook.
This showed that Apii did not have access to the condo unit because he was required to register his entry in the visitors' logbook.
"In the circumstances, this court finds that the defence has failed to raise a reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case or rebut the statutory presumption of trafficking.
"This court is satisfied that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt," the judge said.
Earlier, lawyer Kee Wei Lon asked the court to impose lifetime imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
"I ask that they be jailed for life and the first accused be given 12 strokes of the cane," he said.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Ai Rene urged the court to impose a severe sentence as a drug offence was a serious crime.
DPP Goh said the drugs involved in the case exceeded the 50g threshold in a trafficking case under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 by more than 3,000 times.
"The government declared drugs as the country's number one enemy in 1983. Drugs are a threat to national security, public order and public health.
"I urged the court to consider the public interest more than the accused persons' own interest," DPP Goh said.
Tan and Nguyen were charged with trafficking 172,741.10g of methamphetamine at a condominium unit in Residensi Kiara Jalil 1 at 9.30pm on Feb 24, 2022.
The charge, framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. If not sentenced to death, the accused face whipping of at least 15 strokes.
