A Court of Appeal three-man panel led by
Justice Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat sentenced Abuchi Ngwoke, 31, to 20
years jail and 10 strokes of whipping after convicting him for
possession of 251.66 grammes of methamphetamine.
The court unanimously allowed Ngwoke's
appeal to set aside a Melaka High Court's decision to convict and
sentence him to death for trafficking in the drugs at the Melaka General
Hospital between 5am on May 23, 2012 and 2.50pm on May 25, 2012.
Tengku Maimun said the court found there
were merits on the issue raised by Ngwoke's counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh
Teik relating to the chemist's evidence.
The panel which also included Court of
Appeal judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi and High Court judge Datuk Kamardin
Hashim ordered Ngwoke to serve his jail sentence from the date of his
arrest on May 23, 2012.
According to the facts of the case,
Ngwoke was arrested by the police after he was found breaking into Batik
Selat House MITC in Melaka and drank a bottle of ink.
He was brought to the General Hospital where 27 capsules allegedly containing methamphetamine were removed from his stomach.
In his defence, Ngwoke claimed that he
swallowed "precious stones" which were wrapped, with soup after a man
named Chibike told him that it contained precious stone gold dust which
was used in jewellery-making in Malaysia.
He claimed he was drunk when he followed
Chibike's instructions to swallow the capsules which he believed
contained precious stones, before leaving for Malaysia.
In the appeal today, Teh submitted there
were infirmities in the chemist's evidence with regard to her analysis
of the drugs because there was no evidence she had read her written
statement on her analysis in open court under oath.
He also argued that Rozieyati Abdullah's
written statement was inadmissible because there was no notation that
she had identified her written statement and also no record that her
statement was marked by the court.
He also said the High Court judge erred
when he descended into the arena of conflict and crossed-examined Ngwoke
relating to the issue of his consciousness which was prejudicial to his
client.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurshafini
Mustafha said there were no infirmities in the chemist evidence, adding
that her evidence on the analysis of the drugs was sufficient.
She also said the judge had asked Ngwoke
questions for purpose of clarification relating to his consciousness
when he reached the KL International Airport (KLIA) from Lagos, Nigeria
and to Melaka.
According to Nurshafini, Ngwoke was
conscious at the time he swallowed the capsules as he could explain with
great clarity about the journey he went through from Lagos to KLIA.
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