Mokhtar Sidin JCA:

The appellant appealed against the sentence imposed on him by the High Court when he pleaded guilty to an amended charge under s. 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (the Act) which is punishable under s. 39A(2) of the Act. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and ten strokes of the rotan. We have dismissed the appeal earlier and we now give our reasons for doing so.

The facts of the case. The wife of the appellant, Lew Sin Kiow, was the owner of the semi - detached house No. 39 Jalan Hujan Emas, Taman OUG, Kuala Lumpur. She and her family stayed at another semi - detached house No. 41, but this house was not attached to house No. 39. Apparently, the two houses were separated by a fence. On 25 March 1997, she entered into a sale and purchase agreement to sell house No. 39 to one Chan Poh Lan. Chan Poh Lan took the keys to the house from Lew Sin Kiow to do some renovations and when the renovations were completed the said Chan Poh Lan returned the keys to the appellant's wife because the said Chan Poh Lan had not paid the full purchase price. Only on 20 August 1997, the said Chan Poh Lan obtained the keys to the house from her solicitors. The appellant