MALACCA, June 10 — Four private university students escaped the gallows after they were acquitted and discharged by the High Court here today for drug trafficking and possession, two years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril made the decision after the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against M. Presanth, 25, S. Ravntharan, 28, S. Sathiaseelan, 27, and M. Miraaj, 25, at the end of the prosecution case.
Mohd Firuz said the prosecution had failed to prove the accused were having control of the drugs which means there was no prima facie case established against the four.
The four accused were jointly charged with trafficking cannabis weighing 427.91 grams in a house located at No. 16, Lorong 12, Jalan Bukit Beruang Utama 1/5, Taman Bukit Puteri here at 11.10am on September 2, 2014.
They were charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 punishable under Section 39B (2) of the same Act which carries the mandatory death penalty, upon conviction.
In addition, the four accused were jointly charged with three counts of cannabis possession weighing 66.95 grams, 8.11 grams and grams 13.32 respectively at the same place, time and date according to Section 6 DDA 1952.
They were also jointly charged with two counts of possessing heroin weighing 5.61 grams and monoacetylmorphines weighing 0.82 grams at the same place, time and date according to Section 12(2) DDA 1952.
A total of 10 prosecution witnesses were called during the trial and immediately after Mohd Firuz read the judgment several of the accused family members broke into tears.
Counsels Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent, G. Ravishankar, G. Subramaniam Nair and Nahdan Rengganathan Abdullah represented the four accused while deputy public prosecutor Rozaliana Zakaria conducted the prosecution. — Bernama
