Pendakwa Raya v MUHAMMAD HAIKAL BIN HAMDAN

Case Significance

Illustrates how an unexplained gap in the prosecution's evidence — here, the untested roles of other charged participants who did not testify — can be fatal to a cannabis-trafficking charge at the close of the prosecution case, resulting in a discharge and acquittal without the accused being called on his defence.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns a cannabis-trafficking prosecution that failed at the close of the prosecution case for want of a prima facie case. The accused had been charged that, on 2 November 2021 at the lobby of a residential block in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, in the Petaling district of Selangor, he trafficked cannabis weighing 476.7 grams, an offence under seksyen 39B(1)(a) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 (section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952), punishable under section 39B(2). The prosecution called seven witnesses. A recurring theme in the court's analysis was the role of two other individuals connected to the case, referred to as Amir and Isfahan, who had themselves been charged with drug offences arising from the same matter but who did not give evidence. The court was concerned that, without their testimony, the actual roles of those individuals — and the extent of the accused's own involvement, if any — could not be resolved, so that a gap (kelompangan) remained in the prosecution's case. Emphasising that the issue was not a mere technicality but went to the fundamental principle of a fair trial and the prosecution's duty to prove its case fairly, the court held that this gap did not justify calling the accused to enter his defence. After a maximum evaluation of the evidence, the court found that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case and ordered the accused dilepaskan dan dibebaskan (discharged and acquitted) of the charge without being called to enter a defence. Delivered by Latifah Hj Mohd Tahar J, the judgment is a useful illustration of how an unexplained gap in the prosecution's evidence — here, the untested roles of other charged participants — can be fatal to a trafficking case at the close of the prosecution's evidence.