South African security guard gets death for trafficking drugs

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Cornelius is escorted out from the High Court. — Bernama photo

GEORGE TOWN: The High Court yesterday sentenced a South African security guard to death after finding him guilty of trafficking in 1,949 grams of methamphetamine in 2013.

Judicial commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan passed the sentence on Deon Jacobus Cornelius, 28, after finding that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

Cornelius was charged with committing the offence at the arrival hall of the Penang International Airport at 11.40 am on Oct 4, 2013.

Nordin said that based on the inspection conducted by Customs assistant director Bon Lee Tan Pett, the drug was found in Cornelius’ laptop computer bag.

Cornelius’ statement that the bag was not his and that it was to have been handed over to someone else was made as an afterthought, he said.

He also said that Cornelius’ excuse that he did not know the drug was in the bag could not be accepted. Cornelius was represented by counsel Hussaini Abdul Rashid while deputy public prosecutor Zuraidah Zakaria appeared for the prosecution. — Bernama