Singapore

Man escapes gallows after being cleared of drug trafficking charge by Court of Appeal


SINGAPORE – A 27-year-old man who was originally handed the death penalty for driving his friend to pick up drugs, escaped the gallows on Thursday (April 23) after he was cleared by the Court of Appeal.

The acquittal was the first apex court decision to be delivered via video-conferencing platform Zoom since safe-distancing measures were put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The remote hearing was attended by the five judges, the two accused persons, their respective lawyers, a prosecutor and two interpreters. The media was also allowed to observe.

The case involved Mohammad Azli Mohammad Salleh and Roszaidi Osman, 48, who were sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for trafficking in 32.54g of heroin by the High Court last year.

In allowing Azli’s appeal against his conviction for abetting Roszaidi, the apex court found that there was no basis to conclude that he knew the drugs in question were heroin.

“On the evidence, the most that can be said is that he believed that Roszaidi was going to collect and transport methamphetamine on the night of the offence,” said Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who delivered the judgment.

Azli still faces five pending drug charges in the State Courts, including abetting Roszaidi to traffic in methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine.

On the night of Oct 6, 2015, Azli drove Roszaidi to collect a bag of drugs from two Malaysians who were in a parked lorry.

Azli then drove to a place near his friend’s home, where Roszaidi passed most of the drugs to his wife.

The five people involved in the transaction were arrested soon after.

When asked by investigators to name the drugs Roszaidi collected, Azli replied “sejuk and panas”, referring to methamphetamine and heroin respectively.

However, the apex court said his reference to “sejuk and panas” was ambiguous as to the time at which he learnt that the nature of the drugs.

The court found that the more plausible interpretation of Azli’s answer was that it referred to his knowledge at the time the statement was recorded, and not at the time when he was chauffeuring Roszaidi.

The court pointed out that later that same day, Azli said he thought the journey was “just a quick meet-up… to collect Ice and then go back”. Ice is a street name for methamphetamine.

Roszaidi’s appeal against conviction for trafficking was dismissed.

However, the court sent his case back to the High Court for psychiatric evidence to be heard to determine whether he should get life imprisonment instead.

Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, drug couriers who satisfy certain requirements can get alternative sentences for capital charges.

This includes life imprisonment for a person whose mental responsibility was substantially impaired by a psychiatric condition.

In its judgment, the apex court said it was important to ensure that the alternative sentencing regime is canvassed in every trial involving a capital drug charge .

The other judges on the panel were Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang, Judith Prakash, Tay Yong Kwang and Steven Chong.

In separate proceedings, Roszaidi’s wife, Azidah Zainal, 33, and one of the men in the lorry, Suhaizam Khariri,35, pleaded guilty to reduced trafficking charges.

Both are serving 25-year jail terms, with Suhaizam also ordered to get 15 strokes of the cane.

The second man in the lorry, Aishamudin Jamaludin, 35, was tried together with Azli and Roszaidi, but the trial judge amended the charge against him to a non-capital one.

The prosecution appealed against the reduction of charges, and the Court of Appeal will give its decision on this at a later date.





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