Pendakwa Raya v MOHD SOBRI BIN ABU BAKAR

Case Significance

Illustrates concurrent sentencing across multiple drug charges tried together, with a possession conviction under section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 upheld where a common third-party defence is rejected as an afterthought.

This High Court decision at Alor Setar, Kedah concerns a charge of possession of a dangerous drug under subseksyen 12(2) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 (subsection 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952), punishable under subsection 39A(1), one of three related charges tried together against the same accused arising from the same occasion, the others being a further possession charge and a charge of trafficking heroin. The prosecution's case was that the accused was found in possession of the drug on the night in question, and the decisive question was whether the accused had the knowledge and control necessary to establish possession, or whether the drugs belonged to another. The accused's defence, common to all three charges, was that the drugs were not his but had been left in his car by a friend who had earlier borrowed the vehicle. The court assessed this account and found it to be a denial and a fabrication raised only as an afterthought, unsupported and not advanced in the proper manner required where an accused seeks to attribute the drugs to a third party. Having conducted a full trial and weighed the whole of the evidence, the court was satisfied that the elements of possession had been established beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted the accused on this charge as well. On sentence, and mindful that public interest is the paramount consideration in drug offences and that a court must tailor the sentence to the offence and the offender within the statutory maximum, the court imposed two years' imprisonment from the date of arrest together with three strokes of the cane on this charge, ordering it to run concurrently with the sentences on the other two charges. The judgment is a useful illustration of concurrent sentencing across multiple drug charges tried together where a common third-party defence is rejected.