Pendakwa Raya v 1. ) NG BOON KIAN 2. ) MOHAMMAD HAFIZ CHEAH BIN ABDULLAH 3. ) HU. RONG 4. ) TAN OANH TUYEN

Case Significance

Illustrates the operation of the prima facie threshold in a multi-accused, common-intention drug prosecution, and the court's readiness to acquit accused persons at the close of the prosecution case where the evidence fails to connect them to the drugs, even as others charged with them are called on to answer.

This High Court decision in Kuala Lumpur records the outcome of a consolidated criminal trial in which four accused faced an assortment of drug and poison charges, and this record focuses on the fate of the two accused who were acquitted at the close of the prosecution case. The four had been jointly charged, in furtherance of a common intention, with offences including trafficking in dangerous drugs and possession of drugs and poison. Two of the accused, both foreign nationals, were charged jointly with the others for possession of dangerous drugs and poison alongside the trafficking allegation. At the close of the prosecution case the court undertook a maximum evaluation of the evidence to decide whether a prima facie case had been made out against each accused. It concluded that the prosecution had not established a prima facie case against the two foreign accused: although they had been arrested in connection with the matter, the evidence did not sufficiently connect them to possession or control of the drugs and poison so as to require them to answer the charges. The court accordingly acquitted and discharged those two accused at the close of the prosecution case, without calling on them to enter a defence. The court underscored that mere arrest, or presence at a scene, does not amount to the possession or control that the charges required, and that the common-intention allegation could not supply what the evidence of individual involvement lacked. The trial continued against the remaining two accused, who were ultimately convicted of possession rather than trafficking. The judgment illustrates the operation of the prima facie threshold in a multi-accused, common-intention drug prosecution, and the readiness of the court to acquit accused persons at the close of the prosecution case where the evidence does not connect them to the drugs, even though others charged with them are called on to answer.