Johor High Court free two friends after acquitted for drug trafficking
JOHOR BARU, March 28 — Two men were freed after they were acquitted by the High Court here today on charges of drug trafficking about four years ago.
The accused, Lim Kean Yi, 32, and Lee Chen Khang, 27, were acquitted after Judge Noor Hayati Mat found that the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case against the charge at the end.
In her judgment, Noor Hayati stated that there was an error in the prosecution's case upon evaluation of all the evidence presented in court.
"There were three individuals arrested at the time of the incident. However, the third suspect was not only not charged, but was also not called to testify.
"The prosecution failed to prove that the two accused had access to the location of the incident, and this had affected the prosecution's case.
"Therefore, the two accused will be released without having to call for their defence," she said.
Based on the charge sheet, Lim and Lee were arrested for jointly distributing 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) weighing 202.47 grammes at a service apartment in Jalan Persiaran Indah Utama here at 12.05pm on May 30, 2019.
Both friends were charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which is punishable with Section 39B(2) of the same Act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code which provides for a sentence of up to life imprisonment with a maximum of 15 lashes, if convicted.
In the same court, the two accused were also released and acquitted for two more charges, namely jointly possessing ketamine type drugs weighing 675.67 grammes and Carbamazepine type poison weighing 68.26 grammes, at the same time and location.
For the offence, they were charged according to Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 that can be punished under Section 12(3) of the same Act and Section 9(1) of the Poison Act 1952 can be punished under Section 32(2) of the same Act. Both charges were read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The case was prosecuted by the Deputy Public Prosecutor Siti Norliza Abdullah, while the accused was represented by defence counsels Mohd Daud Ismail and Hang Lee Ying.
