KOTA KINABALU: A man whose identification card states that he is a woman will have his drug abuse case to be re-mentioned on January 20 this year.
Sessions Court judge Ummu Kalthom Abd Samad deferred the case of Ahmad Saharizan Sari, 33, pending verification by the National Registration Department (NRD) of the latter’s IC.
Ahmad Saharizan was brought to court for his plea to be taken and he had admitted to have consuming Amphetamine and Methamphetamine after his urine sample tested positive for the drugs at the Narcotics Crime Investigation office, Beaufort police headquarters at 6.10pm on August 21, 2019.
He also has two previous criminal records of consuming drugs and therefore he had committed an offence under Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and read together under Section 39C (1)(b) of the same Act.
The indictment carries a jail term between five and seven years and whipping of not more than three strokes of the cane, upon conviction.
In the open court, the judge who perused the tendered documents suddenly questioned the accused whether he is a man or a woman, and the accused replied “man”.
The judge said the number of his IC and status indicated him being a woman and she further questioned whether the accused knows about it or not.
The accused, who appeared in a purple shirt and jeans with shoulder-length unkempt hair and a moustache, said that previously his IC was missing and he knew about the IC number and status indicating him as a woman.
Then deputy public prosecutor Nur Syafiqah Suleiman applied for another date in order to get the investigation officer to check the matter with NRD.
The court ordered Ahmad Saharizan to be further detained, pending disposal of the case.
In an unrelated case, a 33-year-old Ag Damit Pg Mulok was charged at the same court with a similar offence of consuming syabu.
He was alleged to have consumed Methamphetamine after his urine sample tested positive for drugs at 11.50am on December 12, 2019 at the Narcotics Crime Investigation office here.
However, no plea was recorded from him, pending his chemist’s report.
The court fixed February 3 this year for re-mention and ordered him to be detained, pending disposal of the case.