Pendakwa Raya v Lim Boon Seng

Case Significance

Illustrates how the statutory possession and trafficking presumptions operate where drugs are found in the boot of a vehicle occupied by the accused, and the sentencing court's discretion to withhold whipping on account of the accused's age.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns a drug-trafficking prosecution in which the accused faced two charges under seksyen 39B(1)(a) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 (section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952), read with section 34 of the Penal Code, arising from a single incident in a car park in Subang Jaya. The first charge alleged trafficking in 14,363.3 grams of methamphetamine and the second in 7,170 grams of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the drugs having been recovered from the boot of a vehicle in which the accused was travelling with a person who had since died. Acting on information, a narcotics team led by the raiding officer conducted the operation and made the seizure. At the close of the prosecution case the court held that a prima facie case had been established and called on the accused to enter a defence. The central legal issue was whether the accused had a sufficient measure of physical control over the vehicle and its contents to attract the statutory presumptions, and whether the accused could rebut the presumption that possession of the seized drugs carried with it knowledge and the ingredient of trafficking. The catchwords record the court's reasoning that, the drugs having been found in the boot of the vehicle the accused was in, the accused had a sufficient form of physical control, casting on the accused the burden of displacing that inference; the court found that burden was not discharged. Having convicted on both charges, the court heard submissions on aggravating and mitigating factors and the accused's own plea in mitigation before passing sentence. The court imposed thirty years' imprisonment from the date of arrest on 24 July 2020, with the sentences on both charges to run concurrently, and, taking the accused's age into account, ordered that no whipping be imposed. The judgment illustrates the operation of the possession and trafficking presumptions where drugs are recovered from a vehicle occupied by the accused, and the sentencing court's discretion to withhold whipping on account of age.