Deprived of fair trial, lorry driver freed of death penalty

 

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal held that a prosecution failure had compromised the rights of lorry driver Ishak Ramli. (Reuters pic)

PUTRAJAYA: A lorry driver sentenced to death for drug trafficking four years ago has been freed by the appeal court because he had been deprived of a fair trial.

Ishak Ramli, 38, had been found guilty by the High Court in Kuala Terengganu in January last year.

However, the Court of Appeal found merit in his appeal on a point of law.

Justice Kamaludin Md Said, who headed a three-man bench for the appeal, said: “The conviction is unsafe. We set aside the sentence.” On the bench were justices Ahmad Nafsy Yasin and Nazlan Ghazali.

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Ishak’s lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, had argued that the failure of the prosecution to produce a witness offered to the defence was prejudicial to the accused and compromised his right to a fair trial.

At the close of the prosecution’s case, the defence had accepted the prosecutor’s offer of Nawawi Tee Abdullah as a witness. Nawawi had been arrested on the same day of the alleged offence and a statement had been recorded from him by the investigating officer.

However, the prosecution was unable to produce Nawawi when the defence began its case, Hisyam said.

Ishak, who was the owner of the vehicle, and lorry attendant Nur Muhammad Izzudin Nordin, 29, were jointly charged with trafficking in 203.9kg of methamphetamine in September 2017.

In his defence, Ishak said he had no knowledge that the drugs had been packed in 11 gunny sacks and loaded on a trailer used to transport goods.

Nur Muhammad was acquitted at the close of the defence case. No appeal was lodged by the prosecution against his acquittal.

Deputy public prosecutors Nahra Dollah and Parvin Hameedah Natchiar appeared for the prosecution, while the defence team comprised Hisyam, assisted by Low Wei Loke and Kee Wei Lon. - FMT