By ISMAILI BASMAWI
KUCHING: An Indonesian woman escaped the gallows but received a nine-years-jail sentence after she pleaded guilty to two lighter charges for drug possession recently.
For the first charge, Aswani, 33, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to having a 0.09g syabu. She was charged under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
On the second charge, she was imprisoned for nine years after pleading guilty to having 51.23g of syabu. She was charged under Section 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A(b) of the same Act.
High Court Judge Lee Heng Cheong ordered that both penalties be carried out concurrently from the date of arrest on August 4, 2017.
According to the case facts, on August 4, 2017, a raid led by Inspector Thomas Untol from the Narcotics Department of the Contingent Police Headquarters was conducted at a house in Kampung Serikin, Bau.
“The accused has taken out a tube suspected to contain syabu from her shorts’ pocket as soon as the police finished making inquiries.
“The investigation then proceeded to the bedroom of the house and police found a plastic bag with two transparent plastic packages believed to contain syabu,” it added.
Appealing on behalf of Aswani, lawyer Ranbir Singh asked the judge to impose a lighter sentence on the accused as she had cooperated with the police.
In addition, he said the accused also did not possess bigger amount of drugs, which was not denied by the prosecution.
According to Ranbir, the accused had also been held in prison for one and a half years which caused her to experience physical and mental stress.
Deputy public prosecutor Musli Abdul Hamid asked the court to impose a heavier sentence on Aswani as drug cases had been widespread lately.
