K
Keiji Maeda
Guest
Thursday December 23, 2010
Man sentenced to hang lashes out
By ONG HAN SEAN
[email protected]
SHAH ALAM: A car painter who was sentenced to death by the High Court here for drug trafficking lost his cool and kicked a press photographer’s camera yesterday.
Tuay Boon Wee, 40, was initially calm when Justice Mohtarudin Baki meted out the sentence but upon being ambushed by photographers when he was led out of the courtroom, he lost his composure and kicked one photographer’s camera.
He was charged under Section 39(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for trafficking 9,144g of cannabis in front of a restaurant in Petaling Jaya two years ago.
Police found 10 compressed blocks of the drug in a plastic bag in his possession when he was arrested on April 8, 2008.
In his judgment, Justice Mohtarudin rejected the defence’s claim that the drugs belonged to a person by the name of Tan Say Heong who had hired Tuay to deliver them to the restaurant for RM200.
Tuay also claimed he did not know the content of the plastic bag and did not question Tan over it.
Defence counsel V. Ayasamy and K. Renuka had argued that there was a discrepancy in the case as the court did not call Tan to the witness stand.
However, Justice Mohtarudin rejected the argument on the basis that even if Tan had been called, he would not have testified in Tuay’s favour.
“The defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the case and, therefore, I find the accused guilty as charged. I have no choice but to sentence him to death,” ruled Justice Mohtarudin.
In an unrelated case, a drug-trafficking accused escaped the gallows when he was freed and acquitted by judge Justice Dr Badariah Sahamid when she ruled that the defence had successfully raised a reasonable doubt.
Ishak Abdurrahman was charged with trafficking 7,269g of cannabis in front of a Tesco supermarket here on March 1 last year.
