KUCHING: Two 18-year-olds were ordered to be placed in a correctional school after pleading guilty to a drug charge.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Ravinthran N Paramaguru ordered the first offender to be sent to Sabah Henry Gurney School and the second accused to Melaka Henry Gurney school for three years.
Ravinthran made the decision after their social reports were submitted by the probation officer yesterday.
The two youths from Taman Sukma had pleaded guilty to trafficking in 349.56g of cannabis at 1pm on April 2 this year.
Their original charge came under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the death penalty.
However the charge was reduced to 39A(2) of the DDA.
In mitigation, the first accused’s counsel Roger Chin and Osman Ibrahim submitted to the court that the offenders regretted their actions.
Since arrested in April 2, their client had been in the custody of the Prisons Department for more than eight months and had learnt a lesson from its harsh conditions.
The lawyers also urged the court to bound over the offender under a good behaviour bond and release him to the parent – the father is an officer at the Education Department while the mother, a teacher, would ensure he did social work in the form of ‘peer group learning’.
The second accused’s defence counsel Ani Solep also urged the court for a lenient sentence as her client was remorseful and had asked for a chance to turn over a new leaf.
Meanwhile the prosecutor DPP Stella Augustine Druce appealed to the court for a deterrent sentence as a lesson to the offenders since it was a serious offence, and taking public interest into consideration.
According to the facts of the case, the two were arrested at Jalan Matang Baru. They were riding on a motorbike when a mobile police vehicle requested them to stop. They were suspected of selling drugs in the area.
While trying to escape from the police, they rammed into another motorbike and fell down.
Police found a packet containing dried leaves believed to be cannabis.