PUTRAJAYA, Oct 3 — A 67-year-old former part-time taxi driver escaped the hangman’s noose after the Federal Court here today allowed his appeal to set aside his conviction and death sentence for drug trafficking.
Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who chaired a five-member panel ruled that Y. Suppiah’s conviction was unsafe as there was serious misdirection by the High Court judge.
She said the High Court judge did not consider Suppiah’s cautioned statement as a defence and there was also no evidence that the prosecution had offered their witnesses to the defence at the end of the prosecution’s case.
The other judges presiding on the bench were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah and Federal Court judges Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat.
Suppiah was found guilty and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court on April 28, 2017 for trafficking in 4.8kg of cannabis at the road side of Jalan Besar Klang, Banting, Kuala Langat, Selangor at 3.30pm on May 4, 2015.
He lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal, which dismissed it on August 30, last year.
According to the prosecution, Suppiah was the one who took out a plastic package containing the drug from a car boot and handed it to the police officer, who inspected the car, which was parked at the side of a road.
Suppiah’s counsel Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi argued that the High Court judge failed to consider his client’s cautioned statement that the police was the one who discovered the drugs. — Bernama
