TAWAU: A father of eight, escaped the gallows after his appeal against his death sentence for trafficking 75.56gm of syabu was allowed by the Court of Appeal, Tuesday.
Rashid Othman, 47, was however sentenced to 15 years jail and ordered to be caned 10 times after he pleaded guilty in the proceedings held virtually to an alternative charge of having drugs.
Justices Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, Datuk Supang Lian and Dato’ Nordin
Hassan, ordered Rashid to serve the jail term from the date of his arrest on Sept 7, 2016.
Rashid, who has no identification document, was on March 15, 2019 sentenced to death by the High Court here after he was found guilty of drug trafficking under Section 39B (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which provides for a mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.
He had committed the offence at 2pm on Sept 7, 2016 at the roadside of Kg Kurnia Jaya, Batu 4, Jalan Apas.
In meting out the sentence, the appellate court held that the sentence took into account the seriousness of drug cases across the country as well as to make the public and criminals aware of the seriousness of drug activities.
The amended charge was framed under Section 39 A (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act which provides for life imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and whipping not less than 10 times, if convicted.
Earlier, during mitigation counsel Jhasarry Kang and Lo Yii Fui representing Rashid, submitted that Rashid has no criminal record and was trapped by someone known as ‘Panjang’ and that Rashid only did the job offered by the man and would be paid RM50 for the job.
The court also told that Rashid worked as labourer and was the sole breadwinner of his family.
Deputy Prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari appeared for the prosecution as respondent.
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