A man was reduced to tears after the Court of Appeal set aside his death sentence for trafficking in 124.04 grams of syabu.

The Appellate Court judges, Datuk David Wong Dak Wah, Datuk Dr. Hamid Sultan Abu Bakar, and Datuk Kamurdin Hashim, ruled unanimously to allow the appeal by Ho Tze Kean, 38, to have his death penalty quashed.

On April 27, 2016, the High Court here sentenced Ho to death by hanging after finding him guilty of trafficking in syabu near the Hing Lee autopart shop at Mile 3 here where drugs in a plastic bag were found in the passenger seat of his car by the police.

The offence, under Section 39B (1)(a) of Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Act 234), is punishable under 39B (2) of the same Act with the death sentence, if found guilty.

Ho, represented by counsel Nelson W Angang, in his appeal stated that the evidence used by previous High Court judge was not valid as it was only based on a statement made by Ho when he was not under arrest.

Counsel Nelson told the court that as Ho did not have his rights to remain silent read out to him by the police officer, what Ho had said when approached by the police would not be valid in court, hence affecting the validity of the evidence used previously to secure Ho’s conviction.

Nelson also said that the appellant was not aware of the contents of the plastic bag as he was only delivering a package to one Aloysius on behalf of his wife.

The prosecution was led by DPP, Jasmee Hameeza.

Two family members of Ho, who were in court, were also in tears after hearing the decision delivered by Justice Datuk David Wong: “We allowed the appeal and the order of conviction is therefore set aside.”

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Rebecca Chong

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]