Amirul Shahidda & Co.

On the court record

Amirul Shahidda & Co. is a Malaysian firm whose reported work is predominantly criminal defence before the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan), with a strand of civil contempt litigation. Its criminal caseload reaches the gravest offences. The firm has appeared in gang-rape proceedings under section 375B of the Penal Code, where the court examined the statutory explanation of common intention and joint liability and whether physical penetration by every member is required, or whether presence at the scene facilitating or promoting the offence amounts to actual participation. It has defended murder charges under section 302 read with section 34 of the Penal Code, in which the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence and the last-seen principle, and the court asked whether a prima facie case had been made out on every ingredient and whether common intention had been proved.

A further part of the practice concerns dangerous drugs. The firm has argued appeals under section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952), where the issues on appeal (isu di peringkat rayuan) were whether there was an absence of knowledge on the part of the accused as to the drugs found. Alongside the criminal work the firm has appeared in committal proceedings (komital), seeking an order for contempt against a party said to have disobeyed or interfered with a court order and thereby obstructed the administration of justice. In the murder proceedings the defence tested whether the last-seen evidence and the surrounding circumstances were sufficient to fix the accused with participation, and whether any reasonable doubt had been raised once the defence was called, while in the drug appeals it pressed the absence of knowledge of the drugs found. The reported profile is that of a criminal-litigation practice engaged with the most serious charges in Malaysian law, murder, gang rape and drug trafficking, together with the coercive civil remedy of committal for contempt.