By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, March 12: Four students of Vocational College Kuching pleaded not guilty today to multiple charges of planting cannabis and possessing cannabis in three Sessions Courts today.
At one Sessions Court, accused Fakhrullah Aqmal Mohamad Roslan, 23, Mohd Sarhan Suriansah, 20, Muhammad Hafiz Azim Mohamad Yahya, 22, and Muhammad Nashihin Mat Zaidi, 23 were slapped with two charges.
Sessions Court Judge Mohd Taufik Mohd Yusoff then fixed April 12 for pre-trial case management.
For the first charge, they were alleged to have planted cannabis behind an unnumbered house at Kampung Atas Sg Cina on Feb 25, 2019, at about 4pm. The charge was framed under Section 6B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 6B(3) of the same Act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries life imprisonment and whipping of not less than six strokes upon conviction.
As for the second charge, they were alleged to be in possession of 33.60 grammes of cannabis at an unnumbered house at Kampung Atas Sg Cina on Feb 25, 2019, at about 4pm. The offence was framed under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable Section 39A(1) of the same Act and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries imprisonment of not less than two years and not exceeding five years and whipping of not less than three strokes but not more than nine strokes upon conviction.
At another Sessions Court, Fakhrullah Aqmal Mohamad Roslan was charged with possessing 154.23 grammes of cannabis at Kampung Atas Sg Cina on Feb 25, 2019, at about 4pm. He was charged under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A(2) of the same Act, which carries an imprisonment term of not less than five years and shall be punished with whipping of not less than 10 strokes upon conviction.
When he pleaded not guilty, Sessions Court Judge Marutin Pagan fixed April 12 for pre-trial case management.
At the third Sessions Court, Mohd Sarhan Suriansah was charged with possessing 76.49 grammes of cannabis at Kampung Atas Sg Cina on Feb 25, 2019, at about 4pm. He was charged under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A(2) of the same Act, which carries an imprisonment term of not less than five years and shall be punished with whipping of not less than 10 strokes upon conviction.
He pleaded not guilty to this charge, and Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga fixed April 16 for pre-trial case management of this case.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor Azhari Yusof prosecuted in all three courts, while the third accused, Muhammad Hafiz Azim Mohamad Yahya, was represented by Michael Tiang. The others were not represented. — DayakDaily
