KOTA KINABALU: The Appellate Court here yesterday set July 6 this year to hear the appeal by two men against their death sentence for separate syabu trafficking convictions.
Justice Dato’ Mohd Hishamudin Md Yunus, who sat together with Justices Datuk David Wong Dak Wah and Dato’ Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid, agreed to adjourn hearing the appeal by Eswaran Susop and Jaswant Singh in order to give them ample time to look for counsels.
The court directed that the appellants, who both hail from Johor, must be represented by different counsels.
During the proceedings yesterday, both appellants, aged 24, were represented by counsel Ram Singh.
The High Court here had on October 23, 2013, sentenced both the appellants to death by hanging after finding them guilty under Section 39B (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which is punishable with the mandatory death penalty, upon conviction.
The trial judge, in his decision, held that the appellants had failed to cast a reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case after finding that there was no evidence that the appellants did not have knowledge about the said syabu.
Eswaran was caught for trafficking in 770.9 grams of syabu on March 18, 2012 at the arrival hall of Terminal Two of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport while Jaswant was convicted of trafficking in 780.2 grams of the same drug at the same time and place.
They were jointly tried since February 25, 2013 with the prosecution, led by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Aida Jaafar Mad Ariff, calling 15 witnesses to testify against both the appellants.
The duo were called to enter their defence on July 21, 2013 with both of them being the only defence witnesses.
DPP Mohd Fairuz Johari appeared for the respondent in these appeals.
Meanwhile, the same court adjourned to July 6 this year to hear the appeal of a 45-year-old woman against her conviction and sentence for trying to cheat a man.
The court unanimously agreed to defer the appeal for the last time to allow Jamilah Likabon to engage a counsel, to represent her in the appeal.
The court also advised the appellant, a former security guard at the temporary detention center (PTS) in Sandakan, to seek a counsel through Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Kebangsaan.
Previously, her (the appellant’s) appeal had been adjourned twice, on November 11, 2014 and January 19, 2015, as she claimed that her counsels had withdrawn from representing her on the two hearings, respectively.
The lower court had sentenced the appellant to one year’s jail plus a RM10,000 fine, in default, three months’ imprisonment, after she was found guilty of attempting to deceive the man of RM3,000 by leading him to believe that she could secure the release of a detainee at the PTS in Sandakan.
She committed the offence at a restaurant at Batu 4 in Sandakan on July 20, 2012.
The appellant was convicted under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 511 of the same Code, which provides for a jail term of up to five years and with whipping and liable to a fine, upon conviction.
DPP Norzilati Izhani Zainal acted for the respondent.