Ex Chef Spared Gallows For Drug Trafficking After Miscarriage Of Justice

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The Federal Court sentenced former chef Rosman Ibrahim to 18 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the rotan for drug possession after quashing the death sentence for trafficking.PUTRAJAYA: A former chef escaped the gallows for allegedly trafficking in 4.7kg of cannabis in his final appeal before the Federal Court after it ruled that there was a miscarriage of justice before the trial court.
However, a three-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed found Rosman Ibrahim, 38, guilty of possession and sentenced him to 18 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the rotan instead.
“We agree with the prosecution that the appellant (Rosman) had knowledge of the drugs in his possession. We reject the suggestion by the defence that he is an innocent carrier,” Azahar said.
Azahar, who sat with Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Zabariah Mohd Yusof, ordered the sentence to begin from Nov 12, 2013, the day of Rosman’s arrest.
The judge said the bench found the conviction and sentence for trafficking unsafe after hearing submissions, reading the trial judge’s written grounds and going through the appeal records.
He said the trial judge misdirected himself when asking Rosman to enter his defence and this amounted to a miscarriage of justice.
“The judge did not state whether the appellant needed to enter defence for presumed or actual possession. He also did not state whether the appellant had to enter his defence for direct trafficking,” Azahar said.
He said this amounted to an improper direction as Rosman would not have known the specific defence he had to put up to rebut the prosecution’s case.
Further, he said, the Court of Appeal was wrong to rely on Section 60 of the Courts of Judicature Act to cure the defect of the High Court.
Rosman committed the offence at the Taman Medan Pejasa car park in Petaling district at 7.30pm on Nov 12, 2013.
Lawyers Suzana Norlihan Alias and Siti Zabedah Kassim represented Rosman while deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution. - FMT

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