TAWAU: Two men were sentenced to death by hanging by the High Court here today after being found guilty of trafficking 4091.7 grams of methamphetamine two years ago.
Judge Datuk Duncan Sikodol handed down the sentence after Fung Kim Loong, 42, and Sirman Abdullah, 32, were found guilty of the charge under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Duncan decided on the sentence after the prosecution successfully proved a prima facie case and directed both accused to enter their defence.
"After hearing submissions from both parties, the court found that the defence's arguments and storyline failed to refute the prosecution's prima facie case and failed to raise any reasonable doubt.
"The court also found that the defence's storyline was purely fictional, aiming to deny and disclaim the knowledge and involvement of both accused in the trafficking of the said drugs.
"Therefore, the court agreed with the prosecution's aggravating factors submissions to impose the death penalty. Although the Mandatory Death Penalty (Abolishment) Act 2023 has come into force, but that does not preclude the court's discretion to impose the death penalty," he said.
According to the charge, both accused were jointly charged with trafficking methamphetamine weighing 4091.7 grams around Lorong 5C 1/1, Bandar Sri Indah Tawau, at approximately 3.55 pm on 14 June 2022.
For this offence, they were charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries a penalty under Section 39B(2) of the same act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment or if not sentenced to death, a minimum of 15 strokes of the cane.
The trial proceedings, which began on Feb 27, were handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Hurman Hussain together with Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Syahnidzam Ahmad, while Fund was represented by Lawyer Datuk Ram Singh and Sirman was represented by lawyer Kamarudin Mohmad Chinke.
Earlier, Ram, in mitigation, requested leniency in sentencing, stating that both accused did not know each other and they were innocent carriers and had no malicious intent to traffic the drugs other than the first offence, besides having families to support.
On that basis, he said, the defence requested the court to use its discretion to impose an alternative sentence of life imprisonment (30 years) and a minimum sentence of 12 strokes of the cane.
However, Hurman, in his submission for aggravating the sentence, insisted that his side requested the death penalty to be imposed on both accused because the facts of the case warranted it.
"The prosecution also takes into account the increasing registration of drug trafficking cases at present besides the weight of drugs in this case exceeding four kg and public interest factors," he argued.
Today's conviction is also the second death penalty case this month by the Tawau High Court after the first case involving a mechanic who was sentenced to the same punishment for trafficking nearly 200 kilogrammes, on March 8.
This follows the Mandatory Death Penalty (Abolishment) Act 2023, which came into force on July 4 last year.
