JOHOR BAHRU, June 14 — The High Court here today acquitted and discharged a furniture and renovation contractor of three counts of trafficking drugs five years ago.
Judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar made the ruling against Wong Shee Kay, 53, after finding that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused at the end of the prosecution case.
He said the prosecution failed to prove that the accused had control or power over the drugs found in the bonnet of a car with the registration number JQJ3692.
The fact that the accused had car keys was not enough to link the possession of drugs to the accused without any other evidence, he added.
“The prosecution had failed to call up the owner of the car to close the loopholes related to access to the car,” said Abu Bakar.
Abu Bakar said that since possession of drugs was not proven, the presumption of drug trafficking under Section 37 (da) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 cannot be activated and the accused was therefore discharged and acquitted of all charges without being called to enter his defence.
Wong was charged with distributing 84.44g of heroin, 1,707.77kg of methamphetamine, and 116.1g of monoacetylmorphine in a car in front of a shop at Jalan Permatang 8, Taman Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram, here, at 6.30 pm on Oct 31, 2018.
The charges were framed under Section 39B (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, and punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act, which carries the death penalty if convicted.
Six prosecution witnesses had been called to testify throughout the trial of the case.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Syafiq Mohd Ghazali prosecuted, while the accused was represented by lawyers Mohd Daud Ismail and Hang Lee Ying.
