Paralysed mechanic escapes gallows for drug trafficking
19 Oct 2022 03:39pm
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A Court of Appeal three-man panel led by Justice Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, in acquitting and discharging Ben Khaled Abd Molok, ruled the drug trafficking conviction against him was not safe.
He said there was a misdirection by the High Court judge in not considering the prosecution's failure to ensure the attendance of a material witness that had been offered to the defence after the court ordered Ben Khalid to enter his defence.
The other two judges were Justices Datuk Wira Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Datuk Hashim Hamzah.
Ben Khaled, who is paralysed from the waist down, was found guilty and sentenced to death by the High Court on Aug 17, 2020, for trafficking in the drug at a car workshop in Jalan Tago, Taman Perindustrian Tago, Sri Damansara, Gombak, Selangor at 4 pm on Feb 12, 2019.
Meanwhile, the 42-year-old man, who was in a wheel-chair, withdrew his appeal against his conviction, three years' jail sentence and three stroke of the rotan for possession of 0.73 grammes of ninetazepam.
He had completed the jail term, but was brought back to prison as he had yet to be whipped.
His lawyer Afiffuddin Ahmad Hafifi said due to his client's current condition, a medical officer had to certify that Ben Khaled is fit before the whipping sentence could be executed on him.
Section 291 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that the court may in its discretion substitute the whipping sentence of an offender to imprisonment, he added.
According to Ben Khaled's other lawyer, Hafizuddin Salehuddin, Ben Khaled became paralysed in 2020 due to tuberclosis which affected his spine.
Justice Kamaludin then told Ben Khaled's lawyers that their client could go back to the High Court to seek further direction or substitution for the whipping sentence if he is certified to be unfit.
Deputy public prosecutor Eu Ghim Siang appeared for the prosecution. - BERNAMA
