Kenyan woman escapes gallows after charge reduced to drug possession

PUTRAJAYA - A Kenyan citizen escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal here today set aside the woman’s conviction for trafficking in 903.5 grammes of methamphetamine.

Pamela Faith Aoko Omollo, 39, however, was sentenced to 12 years in jail after the court substituted the charge against her with possession of the drug.

Lawyer K. Simon Murali, who was assigned by the court to represent Omollo, informed the three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had accepted his client’s representation for the drug trafficking charge be reduced to possession.

Deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir confirmed the AGC had accepted Omollo’s representation.

Justice Kamaludin, who sat with Justices Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, ordered Omollo to serve the jail sentence from Nov 25, 2016, the day she was arrested.

Omollo was found guilty by the Shah Alam High Court on March 16, 2021 of trafficking the drug at the international arrival hall of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor at 7.45 pm on Nov 25, 2016.

The mother of four was sentenced to death. She then appealed to the Court of Appeal against her conviction and sentence.

According to the facts of the case, the drug was discovered in a bag where it was concealed by wooden layers covered with black fabric that were fitted on the upper and lower parts of the bag.

In mitigating for a lesser jail term, Murali said Omollo, who comes from a poor family, was a victim who fell into the treachery of a person belonging to a drug trafficking syndicate which utilised innocent persons to transport its illicit merchandise.

He said she has been in jail for almost seven years and that prolonged incarceration was unjustified and detrimental to Omollo, who has reformed. He said the appropriate jail sentence would be nine years.

Zaki Asyraf highlighted to the court two case law authorities relating to the current sentencing trend imposed on offenders for such cases.

He said in one case, a person was sentenced to 12 years in jail for possessing 52.95 grammes of methamphetamine while another person possessing more than 1 kg of drugs was given 30 years’ jail. - BERNAMA