MALAYSIA. RESTAURANT OWNER ESCAPES GALLOWS

restaurant owner Cheah Yoon Lim escaped the gallows when the Malaysian Court of Appeals amended a drug charge from trafficking to possessing 70.2 grammes of the prohibited substance. Court of Appeals Judge Datuk Richard Malanjum, who presided over a three-judge bench with Datuk Hashim Yusoff and Datuk S. Augustine Paul, then sentenced Cheah, 30, to 15 years jail and 10 strokes of the rotan. The three judges unanimously agreed that the Johor Baharu High Court had erred in finding Cheah guilty of trafficking.
"In this case, there was an error in the judgement. A very serious error," said Justice Paul.
Cheah, who was married and hada child, appealed against the Johor Baharu High Court's decision on October 30, 2001 which sentenced him to death after finding him guilty of trafficking 70.2 grammes of monoacetylmorphines. Cheah was alleged to have committed the offence in a parking lot outside the Pangsapuri C apartments in Taman Tangsi in Johor Baharu. He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act, an offence punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same act. The death sentence is mandatory upon conviction.
Earlier, lawyer Hisham Teh Poh Teik, who represented Cheah, urged the court to acquit and free his client of the charge. However, Paul said the prosecution had an airtight case against Cheah for being in possession of the drugs.