Liberian’s death sentence for drug trafficking upheld

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PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here yesterday upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Liberian businessman for trafficking in 412.8 grammes of heroin.Justices Datuk Hashim Yusoff, Datuk Wira Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Seri Raus Md Sharif unanimously dismissed Nobies Weah Ezike’s final appeal against his conviction and death sentence imposed by the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 16, 2005.

Hashim said both the high court and the appellate court had considered and accepted evidence from two prosecution witnesses and also documentary evidence, to conclusively identify Nobies as the person who couriered the package to the United States (US).

At the High Court, operations senior supervisor Ru’aidi Idris and customer service clerk Raja Diyana Raja Zulkifli of United Parcel Service had identified Nobies as the person who wanted to send overseas a package which was found to have traces of white powder and later confirmed by chemists to be heroin. Therefore, there was no reason to interfere with the High Court’s finding of fact and that the Court of Appeal also did not make any error in upholding the conviction and death sentence on Nobies.

Nobies, 41, was convicted by the Shah Alam High Court of trafficking in two packages of heroin weighing 412.8g at the premises of United Parcel Service (UPS) at No. 11, Jalan Tandang, Petaling Jaya about 12.20pm on March 9, 1996.

The Court of Appeal on July 30, last year upheld the conviction and sentence.

Lawyer Karpal Singh, representing Nobies, submitted that there was no positive identification because Nobies was identified by the two UPS staff at the trial which commenced in 2003, seven years after the incident.

He said it was a serious misdirection by the high court to convict Nobies.

Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Huda Noraini Mohamed Noor argued that Nobies had possession of the package because he handed it to the UPS to be couriered.

She said both prosecution witnesses could positively identify Nobies in the dock as the person who had come to the UPS to have the package couriered. — Bernama