JUDGMENT

Hamid Sultan Abu Backer JC:

[1] On 22 October 2007 I found all the 3 accused guilty as charged after hearing their defence. The charge read as follows:

That you all, on the 18th July, at about 11.40p.m., at the room number 1017, Tang Dynasty Hotel, in the District of Kota Kinabalu, in the State of Sabah, did have in your possession without lawful authority 1599.9 grammes of Methamphetamine and that you all have thereby committed an offence under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39A(2)(r) of the same Act read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (DDA 1952) carries the maximum sentence of life imprisonment or for a term not less than five years and shall also be liable to whipping of not less than 10 strokes with the exception of female offender and male offender who is more than 50 years of age as set out in s. 289 of Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) . The 1st accused in this case now is 29 years old, 2nd accused 39 years old while the 3rd accused is aged 37 years old. Based on s. 288 of CPC , the maximum number in respect of whipping in this case cannot exceed 24 strokes.

[2] The mit