High Court in Alor Setar acquits a French national and two Malaysians of drug trafficking and possession due to lack of prima facie evidence.
ALOR SETAR: The High Court here acquitted and discharged a French man and two friends of seven drug-related charges today.
Judge Evawani Farisyta Mohammad ruled the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against Tom Felix, 35, Muhammad Rusydan Danyal Hussain, 34, and Nor Puteri Farrah Awang, 32.
The trio had faced three joint charges of trafficking cannabis weighing 384.8 grammes, 377.7g and 983.6g.
The alleged offences occurred at a house in Jalan Batu Asah, Mukim Kuah, Langkawi on August 9, 2023.
They were charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries a potential death sentence or life imprisonment.
They were also jointly charged with possessing four separate quantities of cannabis at the same location.
These possession charges were under Sections 6 and 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
In her judgment, Evawani Farisyta stated that while the accused were detained in the house, the prosecution failed to prove they had exclusive access to the drugs found there.
“The prosecution had failed to prove that all the accused had exclusive access to the case items found in the house,” she said.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Khazrin Hafiz.
Tom Felix was represented by lawyer Collin Arvind Andrew, while Muhammad Rusydan Danyal and Nor Puteri Farrah were represented by Devkumar and Datuk G. Shanmugam respectively.
