Chong Siew Fai CJ (Sabah & Sarawak):

At the conclusion of the hearing before us, and after a short deliberation, Edgar Joseph Jr FCJ and Shaik Daud, JCA allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction and set aside the sentence of death. I differed from them with regret. We indicated that reasons for our different conclusions would be given. I now give mine.

I do not propose to repeat the history and the facts of this case, which have already been clearly rehearsed in the judgment of Shaik Daud, JCA.

For convenience, I shall call the appellant "the accused".

Grounds Of Appeal

Altogether there were eight grounds of appeal as follows:

(A) The learned trial judge erred in:

(a) convicting the accused under s. 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (the Act);

(b) convicting the accused since there was no clear, direct evidence showing that he had knowledge, custody and control of the drugs;

(c) failing to consider that the existence of a 3rd party, one Abdul Rahman bin Noh alias Ah Kiong, who was also arrested on a charge of drug trafficking, had created a doubt in this case;

(d) failing to consider Mohamad Radhi bin Yaakob v. Pendakwa Raya [1991] 3 MLJ 169 SC;

(e) failing to