Kota Kinabalu: A 26-year-old man, who was charged with drug trafficking, pleaded guilty at the High Court here to having 78.92gm of syabu.
Judicial Commissioner Wong Siong Tung, however, deferred sentencing on Mohamad Shahrulhafizi Mohd Salleh to April 24.
Shahrulhafizi admitted to the alternative charge of having the drug at 12.30pm on Oct 2, 2018, at a car park behind the One Borneo Hypermall, Manggatal.
The alternative charge offered to him is framed under Section 12(2) of Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which is 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 not less than 10 strokes, on conviction.
Earlier, the prosecution in tendering the facts of the case, said a police team went to the said place and after 40 minutes of observation, saw a man, later identified as Shahrulhafizi, holding a plastic bag in a suspicious manner. Shahrulhafizi threw the plastic bag on the road when police introduced themselves.
The police then took the bag and found five transparent plastic inside containing crystalline substance, believed to be syabu.
Shahrulhafizi was arrested while the substance was sent for analysis at the Chemist Department which later confirmed that it was syabu weighing 78.92gm.
Counsel Abdul Fikry Jaafar Abdullah, representing Shahrulhafizi, applied for a lenient sentence and proposed sentence of below 12 years jail on the grounds, among others, that he was first offender and was the eldest son of nine siblings and that he had been detained for three and a half year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Siti Amirah Muhammad Ali urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence and proposed between 13 and 14 years of imprisonment by submitting, among others, that Shahrulhafizi was lucky to be offered an alternative charge and escaped the possible punishment under the original charge.
Shahrulhafizi was originally charged with trafficking the drug under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 which carries a punishment with either the death penalty or life imprisonment and whipping with a minimum of 15 strokes, on conviction.
Meanwhile, in the Magistrate’s Court, a man was charged with damaging public property.
Nordin Sulaiman, who appeared before magistrate Jessica Ombou Kakayun, was accused of breaking the electric wiring box at the Sutera Avenue building area at 2.30pm on March 13.
However, no plea was taken from Nordin after the charge under Section 6(1A) of the Minor Offence Ordinance was read out to him. Inspector Albert Basiri, prosecuting, offered bail at RM3,000 while Nordin, who was not represented requested for a lower bail as he has many dependants.
The court set March 24 for Nordin’s plea be taken in open court and released him on a bail of RM500 in one surety.
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