Kota Kinabalu: A 42-year-old scrap metal collector was sentenced to 13 years in jail and ordered given 10 lashes of the cane by the High Court here for having 102.57gm of syabu.
Kalaichelvan Silvaraju pleaded guilty before Judicial Commissioner Maslinda @ Linda Mohd Ainal to the alternative charge offered to him by the prosecution.
Kalaichelvan admitted to committing the offence on June 19, 2023, at 5pm, at the car park of University Condo Apartment 2, Manggatal.
The charge under Section 12 (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A(2) of the same Act carries an imprisonment for life or a jail term of not less than five years and whipping of not less than 10 strokes, on conviction.
Kalaichelvan was originally charged with trafficking the drugs under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 which carries a punishment of either the death penalty or life imprisonment and whipping with a minimum of 15 strokes, on conviction.
Earlier, during the presentation of the case facts, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sofia S. Sawayan informed the court that a police team had detained a man, later identified as Kalaichelvan, who was found inside a Perodua Axia.
Upon being questioned by the officers about whether he was in possession of any illegal items, Kalaichelvan disclosed that he had syabu in a sling bag he was wearing and voluntarily handed it over to the police.
He was subsequently arrested, and the crystalline substance was seized and sent to the Department of Chemistry for analysis.
A report from the department later confirmed that the substance contained a net weight of 102.57 gm of syabu.
Counsel Yong Pei Yi representing Kalaichelvan requested a minimum sentence, noting that he had pleaded guilty before the commencement of the trial on the original charge.
Yong told the court that he was remorseful and had given his assurance that he would not commit a similar offence in the future.
Yong further informed the court that Kalaichelvan is a divorced father of four children, who are currently under the care of his mother-in-law in Kajang, Selangor, as his ex-wife remarried and is no longer looking after them.
She added that Kalaichelvan is the sole breadwinner for the family and works as a scrap metal collector.
DPP Sofia submitted that the appropriate sentence would be 11 to 13 years in prison, along with 10 strokes of whipping, based on the facts and circumstances of the present case.
Sofia also submitted that drugs had been declared the nation’s number one enemy by the government since 1983.
She also highlighted that the devastating effects of drug abuse, along with drug-related activities and offences, cause unending suffering not only for the users but also their families and society.
Sofia urged the Court to take judicial notice of the prevalence of drug offences and related cases, not only in Sabah but nationwide, with news of such offences and cases appearing almost daily in the media.
Furthermore, she pointed out that the weight of the drugs involved in the present case exceeds more than double the threshold amount specified under Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
The court ordered Kalaichelvan, who had been in remand since his arrest, to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest.
