Kota Kinabalu: A 48-year-old former private school teacher escaped the hangman’s noose after the Federal Court set aside her conviction for trafficking 959.5gm of syabu here eight years ago and instead sentenced her to 10 years’ jail for drug possession.
A three-member bench led by Court of Appeal President Justice Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, sentenced Suhailah Abdullah to 10 years’ jail after substituting the charge to a lesser charge under Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952
Rohana ordered Suhailah to serve the imprisonment from the date of her arrest on May 27, 2013.
The other two judges were Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Sri Hasnah Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.
According to Suhailah’s counsel Dato Seri Rakhbir Singh, the Federal Court Justices, who presided the appeal via Zoom on Wednesday, allowed Suhailah’s appeal against her conviction and death sentence for the drug trafficking and set aside her convictions on drug trafficking by the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
Rakhbir said the justices then reduced the charge to one possession under Section 39A(2) of the DDA 1952 and sentenced Suhailah to 10 years jail from the date of her arrest.
The bench and the prosecution were in Putrajaya, Rakhbir in Kota Kinabalu while Suhailah was in Kajang prison.
Earlier, among arguments raised by Rakhbir in his submissions were that Suhailah was tricked into believing when two Nigerians in New Delhi handed over to her a luggage bag only containing new clothes to be handed over to their Nigerian friend in Malaysia, as they were in the cloth business.
“Believing them and after having checked the bag, piece by piece, Suhailah decided to assist them to carry the luggage bag.
“However unbeknown to her, secretly hidden and planted within the floors of the bag were the drugs,” said Rakhbir.
The prosecution submitted that the trial judge had considered all the evidence and this was confirmed by the Court of Appeal on Aug 6, 2018.
Suhailah, who broke down in tears after hearing the decision, thanked the panel Federal Judges for giving her a new lease of life and also thanked her lawyer who fought the case for her over the last eight years.
She had on June 23, 2017 sentenced to death by the High Court here after she was found guilty of committing the offence at 11.15am on May 27, 2013 at the International Arrival Hall, Terminal Two of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport here
The offence under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 carries the death sentence on conviction.
Suhailah’s appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision was rejected on Aug 6, 2018.
Suhailah was previously, on March 13, 2015, jailed 14 years for having the drugs by the High Court, which amended her original charge of trafficking to a lesser charge of possession at the end of the prosecution case in the trial of the original charge.
However, she was ordered by the Court of Appeal on Nov 28, 2016 to enter her defence on the original charge following an appeal by the prosecution appeal against the reduction of the charge.
Meanwhile, according to Rakhbir, Suhailah should be out of prison by now.
.jpg)
