GEORGE TOWN: A security personnel was sentenced to death by the High Court today for trafficking in1.4kg of ganja four years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ruled that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
Wan Mazri Pak Wan Teh, 40, was found guilty of committing the offence at a house at Kampung Sulup, Teluk Kumbar about 1.30am on May 11, 2014.
He was detained inside a room in the house and police recovered the drugs, a weighing scale and also a small plastic bag.
He was charged under Section 39B of Dangerous Drugs Act for trafficking dangerous drugs, which carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Cheah Yit prosecuted while lawyer Maanveer Singh Dhillon represented the accused.
After the sentence was read out Maanveer urged the court to sentence his client to lifetime imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
He said that according to the amended Dangerous Drugs Act, the court had the discretion to sentence the accused to lifetime imprisonment, if four requirements were met.
“Out of the four, my client had fulfilled two. Firstly, there was no proof that my client was buying and selling drugs at the time of the arrest, and secondly, he has assisted an enforcement agency in disrupting drug trafficking activities,” he said.
Ahmad Shahrir however upheld his decision.
The accused looked calm when the sentence was read out before he was escorted out of the court by the police.
His father was present to hear the court’s decision.
Outside the courtroom, Maanveer said he would appeal against the decision.
