JOHOR BAHRU (BERNAMA) – Two friends in Malaysia heaved a sigh of relief for having escaped the noose yesterday after the High Court in Johor Bahru acquitted and discharged them on a drug trafficking charge.
Judicial Commissioner Noor Hayati Mat freed Effy Sharaffi Muszali, 28, and Indra Ironi Nasrun, 27, of the charge after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against them.
In the judgement, Noor Hayati said that the chain of evidence against the exhibit in the case was broken when the prosecution could not provide an explanation regarding the matter.
She said the prosecution also failed to prove that the two men had knowledge of the exhibit that was found under the steering wheel of a car.
Effy Sharaffi, a mechanic, and Indra Ironi, a hospital porter in Singapore, were jointly charged with trafficking 455 grammes (g) of cannabis drug in the car park of Skudai Parade shopping centre in Johor Bahru at 6pm on July 16, 2020. The charge was framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act which provides the death sentence upon conviction.
However, Noor Hayati sentenced Effy Sharaffi to three years in prison for the second charge involving possession of 10.14g of cannabis at 6.15pm on the same day and at the same place.
The charge could lead to a prison sentence of not more than five years or a fine of not more than MYR20,000 or both, if convicted.
Effy Sharaffi had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was supposed to enter his defence yesterday, but changed his plea to guilty yesterday. He was ordered to serve the prison sentence from July 16, 2020.
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