Kota Kinabalu: A 41-year-old man was sentenced to eight years’ plus 10 strokes of the cane for having 46.23gm of syabu.
Sessions Court Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim meted out the sentence to Ajirin Rasin who admitted to the charge against him.
Ajirin had the drug at 8pm on Feb 16 this year at SJR 3 in Jalan Ranau-Tambunan.
The offence under Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act carries a jail term of between five years and life imprisonment, and whipping, on conviction.
Ajirin was ordered to serve the jail sentence from the date of his arrest.
In his mitigation, counsel Luqman Syawan Zabidi who stood in for counsel Luke Ressa Balang, asked for leniency saying that his client was the sole breadwinner of his family.
Luqman said Ajirin has a wife, children and his mother to look after.
According to Luqman, his client was remorseful for what he had done and wish to turn to over a new leaf after he is released from prison.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nidzam Ahmad urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence.
Meanwhile, a company was fined a total of RM25,000 for allowing five illegal immigrants to stay in its premises.
Sessions Court Judge Azreena Aziz handed the sentence to One Stop Décor (Sabah) Sdn Bhd after its representative pleaded guilty to the charge against the company.
The company was fined RM5,000 in default two months’ jail for each illegal immigrants involved.
The company was found permitting the five Fillipinos without any documents, to stay in the premise in Jalan Tuaran Likas, here at 12.05pm on May 25 this year.
The court allowed the company to pay the fine by instalments in which the first payment of RM10,000 must be paid after the proceedings and the second payment on RM15,000 on or before Feb 8 next year.
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