Kota Kinabalu: A 25-year-old pirate taxi driver walked free, Tuesday, after the High Court acquitted him of a charge of trafficking 725.6gm of syabu.
Nazri Santa
(pic) was acquitted and discharged by Judge Datuk Alexander Siew How Wai without his defence being called.
In his ruling, Siew said the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused.
The court found that there were several unanswered questions in the case and that it was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, or even on a balance of probabilities, that the accused had the requisite knowledge of the drugs.
“The accused is therefore acquitted and discharged,” said Siew.
Nazri was charged with committing the offence at 6pm on Aug 26, 2024 at a parking lot in Beverly Hills Phase 5, Penampang.
The offence under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 carries the death penalty or life imprisonment and whipping of not less than 15 strokes.
Four prosecution witnesses testified during the prosecution stage.
Nazri, who had been in remand since his arrest, thanked his counsel after the proceedings.
He was represented by Hairul V. Othman and Luke Ressa Balang.
