The Court of Appeal ruled the conviction was unsafe, citing evidence that the rider was not the sole occupant of the vehicle containing drugs
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today acquitted and discharged a food delivery rider of a charge of trafficking 29.2302 kilogrammes of cannabis after allowing his appeal against his conviction and sentence.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin and Datuk Sri Latifah Mohd Tahar unanimously set aside the High Court’s decision, which had convicted Muhammad Quddus Zahari and sentenced him to 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane.
Delivering the court’s judgment, Justice Noorin held that the appellant’s conviction was unsafe and could not be sustained.
She said the evidence showed that Muhammad Quddus was not the sole occupant of the vehicle, as two other accused persons had travelled with him in the same car from Kedah to Kuala Lumpur.
“The prosecution was required to exclude the reasonable possibility that someone other than the appellant had access to the vehicle’s boot or had the opportunity to place the drugs there,” she said.
Justice Noorin noted that there was no evidence to establish that Muhammad Quddus alone had access to the boot where the drugs were discovered.
She said the High Court had concluded that the appellant had exclusive custody and control of the drugs solely because he had rented the vehicle, and the car keys were found in his pocket when he was arrested.
“However, possession of the car keys or the fact that the appellant hired the vehicle does not automatically establish exclusive possession of every item found inside the car, particularly when the evidence showed that the vehicle had been jointly used by the two other accused over a considerable period before the arrest,” she said.
Muhammad Quddus, 28, appealed against the High Court’s decision on July 4, 2024, convicting him of the offence and imposing the sentence.
He was charged with trafficking 29.2302kg of cannabis at the car park of an apartment building on Jalan Bemban Ampang, Off Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, at 6.45 pm on Aug 19, 2022.
Two other men were jointly charged with Muhammad Quddus but were acquitted and discharged by the High Court at the close of the prosecution’s case without being called to enter their defence.
During today’s proceedings, counsel Amrick Singh Sandhu, representing Muhammad Quddus, argued that the High Court had erred in both fact and law by finding that his client was in possession of the drugs merely because the car keys were found on him and he had rented the vehicle.
He submitted that the evidence clearly showed the two co-accused also had access to the vehicle’s boot.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Solehah Noratikah Ismail, appearing for the prosecution, argued that during his defence, Muhammad Quddus had not implicated the second and third accused in relation to the drugs found in the boot of the vehicle.
