KUCHING: A perfume seller was sentenced to five years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here yesterday for possessing 90.91g of cannabis.
Muhammad Hafez Ajis, 22, from Kampung Semariang Jaya admitted committing the offence framed against him under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, read together with Section 39A(2) of the same Act, which provides for a jail term from five years to life imprisonment and not less than 10 strokes.
He admitted to committing the offence before judge Marutin Pagan who ordered the custodial sentence to take immediate effect.
Hafez, also a student of a skills training centre here, remained calm when the judgement was delivered.
He was detained by the police from Kuching District Narcotics Crime Investigation Department during a raid of a budget hotel at Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce at 7.45pm on Feb 20, 2016.
According to the facts of the case, the drug was found inside two plastic bags in a square box on the floor in the room. The bags contained dried leaves believed to be cannabis.
Also seized during the raid were a weighing scale, two flight boarding passes with his name on them and two flight itineraries.
In his mitigation, made through two defence counsels Roger Chin and Osman Ibrahim, the accused pleaded for leniency in sentencing.
He said he was below 21 years old when he committed the offence, and was remorseful.
He said being remanded in prison duringthe trial before he admitted to the offence had taught him a lesson the hard way.
Hafez’s family members were also present during the court proceeding.