Kuching: The Court of Appeal has upheld the 30-year imprisonment imposed on two friends convicted of trafficking in 231.93 grammes of methamphetamine. A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah, sitting with Justices Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng and Datuk Nadzarin Wok Nordin, in dismissing the appeal by Peter Chan Chia Yin, 32, and Goh Sie Kiat, 34, against their conviction and sentence, also affirmed the sentence of 12 strokes of the cane each that were imposed on them by the High Court.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the grounds of judgment dated today, which has been uploaded on the judiciary's website, indicate that Justice Lim stated the High Court had correctly found that the duo had failed to raise a reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case. 'The appellants were clearly in control and custody of the drugs and must have known of the drugs as they were caught handling and packing them, with drug paraphernalia found on the table directly in front of them,' he said.
Justice Lim noted that the appellants' claim that the drugs belonged to a friend of Chan, who had allegedly been engaged as a renovation worker to repair the toilet, was an afterthought because they failed to present that version of events to the material prosecution witnesses during the trial. He also mentioned that the High Court judge had evaluated the testimonies of the raiding officers, who said they had a direct line of sight into the storeroom and caught the appellants red-handed at a table where the drugs and paraphernalia were found.
He emphasized that the appellate court should always be cautious in disturbing the findings of fact made by the trial judge, who had the audio-visual advantage of the witness, unless there are compelling reasons for disagreeing with the finding. Chan and Goh had appealed against the High Court's decision convicting them of drug trafficking and sentencing each of them to 30 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane.
The offence was committed at a house in Jalan Selangan Batu, Kuching, Sarawak, at 11 pm on Dec 24, 2019. According to the facts of the case, the police, acting on a tip-off, entered the house through an unlocked front door and caught the appellants red-handed, handling and packing the drugs on a table in a storeroom.