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Borneo: Man gets 39 years and 24 strokes for drug possession
Borneo Post Wednesday 23 May 2012 Justice Dato' Abdul Rahman Sebli meted out the sentence on Ho Ah Bee @ Ho Gin Seng, 46, after hearing the latter's mitigation for leniency and reply from deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Monica Linsua who was assisted by DPP Uma Devi Balasubramaniam. Abdul Rahman sentenced Ho to 15 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for the possession of syabu and jailed him for another 24 years and 12 strokes of the cane for possession of cannabis. Ho committed the offences about 12.15pm on September 9, 2011 inside a room at Tang Dynasty Park Hotel here. Both charges were framed under Section 12 (2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 and punishable under Section 39A (2) (r) of the DDA for the possession of syabu, and under Section 39A (2) (f) of the same act for the possession of cannabis, and in either case provides for life imprisonment or a jail term of not less than five years, and whipping of not less than 10 strokes of the cane, upon conviction. However, Ho, who was represented by assigned counsels Nelson W Angang and Chua Kuan E, would only serve 24 years in prison after the court ordered the custodial sentences to run concurrently from his date of arrest on September 9, 2011. Besides these two cases, Ho is currently serving 10 years in prison, which was also ordered to run from the date of his arrest plus 10 strokes of the cane for possessing 40 grams of syabu at the same time and place. In his decision, Abdul Rahman held that as for the sentencing, enough had been said of the seriousness and rampancy of this type of offence. "It seems that drug dealers are not at all deterred by the heavy sentences that had been passed by the courts throughout the country in the past, not even the death penalty. "These peddlers of death deserve no sympathy from the court," he stressed. "It is safe to assume that when he committed these two offences the accused knew very well that very heavy sentences awaited him if he were to be caught and brought to justice," he said. Abdul Rahman said the accused had one previous conviction for a drug offence and he had also been placed under supervision for two years in Simpang Renggam in Johor for a drug-related activity. "Despite his brushes with the law in the past, the accused chose to tempt fate again. He must now face the consequences of his act and must not expect leniency from the court. "He is in fact lucky that his counsel succeeded in convincing the public prosecutor to reduce the charges from trafficking to mere possession. Otherwise, he would be facing the mandatory death penalty for each of the two original charges," he said, adding a sufficiently deterrent sentence must be passed to reflect public abhorrence for this type of criminal behaviour. The accused was initially tried with trafficking in both types of drugs at the same time and place. However, the prosecution had on Tuesday tendered the amended charges of possession when the case came up for a continuation of the trial of Ho. The prosecution had, since the trial started on May 2, produced four witnesses to testify against Ho on the original charges of trafficking each framed under Section 39B (1) (a) of the DDA which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction. Earlier in pleading for leniency, Nelson informed the court that the accused has three young children and prior to his arrest, he was the sole breadwinner of the family. He said that the accused had pleaded guilty to both amended charges and this had saved the court's time and expenses of a lengthy trial. "The accused is remorseful towards the offence that he has committed and he promised not to commit the same or any offence again," he said, adding that throughout the investigation, from the moment he was arrested, the accused had fully co-operated with the police. Nelson also submitted the trend of sentencing by the courts in respect of the types and weight of drugs concerned. He applied for the court to impose a sentence of seven years commencing from the date of arrest and 10 strokes of the cane in respect of each charge. In her rebuttal, Monica submitted that plea of guilty did not automatically warrant the accused for a lesser punishment and must be weighed with facts and circumstances of the case. She said other aggravating factors did outweigh the plea of guilty by the accused. Monica pointed out that drug offences have been major problems to society for a very long time. She said the interest of the public, especially the future generation, could only be protected when a deterrent sentence was imposed against this type of offender. Monica told the court that the accused had one previous conviction where in 1999 he was convicted under Section 12 (2) of the DDA for possessing syabu. She also told the court that the accused had been put under the order of supervision for two years in Simpang Renggam in 2001 for a drug-related activity. She also applied for the jail sentences to run consecutively as the accused had committed a serious offence taking into consideration the weight of the syabu and cannabis and two types of drugs involved. Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/05/24/man-gets-39-years-and-24-strokes-for-drug-possession/#ixzz1vii4lYq7
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