JAILED: Zubairi being escorted out of the court room after sentencing.
KUCHING: The Sessions Court here yesterday sentenced a 23-year-old postman to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the rotan for planting cannabis trees in his house last year.
The accused Zubairi Ismail from Kampung Gersik was also guilty of possessing 2.17g cannabis, for which he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.
Judge Nixon Kennedy Kumbong meted the sentence after hearing his mitigation and ordered the jail sentenced to run consecutively.
Under Section 6(3) of the Drugs Act, the life imprisonment sentence is equivalent to 30 years’ jail.
He was given the maximum penalty for the first offence which comes under Section 6B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952.
He was charged under Section 6 of the same drug act for the second offence.
The cannabis tree was found inside his room together with the 2.17g cannabis in his trouser pocket.
The offence was committed at 3.30pm on July 21 last year.
In his mitigation submitted through defence counsel Francis Wee, the accused begged for a lenient sentence due to family hardship.
However when meting out the sentence, Nixon said hardship was not acceptable, so a deterrent sentence had to be imposed for such an offence.
“By his age, he is mature enough to understand the consequences of possessing any drug,” he said.
Zubairi appeared calm but his mother wept when the judgement was delivered.
His counsel’s application for Zubairi’s stay of execution was rejected by DPP Poh Yoh Tinn.