Appeals Court Upholds Man's Jail Term, Orders Consecutive Whipping For Drug Offence

PUTRAJAYA, May 28 (Bernama) -- The Court of Appeal today upheld a 30-year prison sentence imposed on a former hotel employee convicted on two counts of trafficking cannabis and one count of possession, while ordering that his caning punishment be served consecutively.

A three-judge panel led by Justice Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali dismissed the appeal filed by Ilham Utama Sawai Suardi, maintaining the Seremban High Court's ruling that found him guilty of the offences.

Sitting alongside Justices Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, Justice Mohd Ruzima said the defence failed to raise any issues warranting appellate intervention.

“We find that the High Court did not err in concluding that the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case,” he said.

However, the appellate court allowed the prosecution’s appeal on sentencing, specifically the caning, ruling that the 12 strokes of the rotan for each trafficking charge be served consecutively, rather than concurrently, bringing the total to 24 strokes.

Ilham, 30, was convicted by the Seremban High Court in December 2023 on three charges involving cannabis. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for possession of 10.58 grams of cannabis.

For trafficking 373.80 grams and 560.34 grams of cannabis, he was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment, as well as 12 strokes of the rotan for each charge.

The offences were committed on April 12, 2020, at around 3.30 pm in the parking lot of a hotel and later around 4.15 pm at a house in Taman Temiang Jaya, both located in Seremban.

The High Court had earlier ordered the jail terms and caning sentences to run concurrently. Ilham still has the option to appeal to the Federal Court.

In today’s proceedings, Ilham was represented by lawyer Datuk Hanif Hasan, while Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution.

-- BERNAMA