Pendakwa Raya v ZULNAZ ATTRASH BIN ZULYADZRI

Case Significance

A clear illustration of a multi-charge trafficking conviction under section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 resolved under the reformed sentencing regime, with life imprisonment and whipping imposed on each charge in place of the death penalty.

This decision of the High Court of Malaya at Alor Setar records the trial of an accused on three separate charges of trafficking in dangerous drugs under section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Act 234): heroin weighing 29.9 grams, methamphetamine weighing 111.63 grams, and monoacetylmorphine weighing 16.2 grams. The prosecution case, described by the court as relatively straightforward, rested substantially on the evidence of the raiding officer (SP4), who testified that during a crime-prevention patrol at a ferry jetty in Langkawi he observed the accused behaving suspiciously while carrying a black bag at the passenger-arrival route, that the accused acted aggressively and tried to flee when the police identified themselves, and that the drugs were recovered following his arrest. The central question was whether the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt on each charge.

Having undertaken a full evaluation of the evidence at both the prosecution and defence stages, the court was satisfied that the ingredients of trafficking — possession, custody, knowledge and the act of carrying — were established on each of the three charges, and it convicted the accused accordingly. In passing sentence the court observed that the accused was fortunate to be sentenced only after the reform of the mandatory death penalty had come into force, so that the court now had a choice in the punishment it could impose rather than being confined to a capital sentence. Exercising that discretion, the court sentenced the accused, on each of the three charges, to imprisonment for life together with 12 strokes of the rotan. In weighing sentence the court had regard to the seriousness of trafficking in three distinct dangerous drugs and to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances placed before it, concluding that a custodial term of the most serious order, coupled with whipping, was the appropriate response short of the capital penalty. The judgment is a clear illustration of a multi-charge trafficking conviction resolved under the reformed sentencing regime, where life imprisonment and whipping were imposed in place of the death penalty formerly attaching to section 39B.