JUDGMENT

Edgar Joseph Jr. SCJ:

The appellant was convicted in the High Court at Kuching for trafficking in a dangerous drug, to wit, cannabis weighing 793.85 grammes, in contravention of s. 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 ("the Act") and sentenced to death. It was alleged that the offence was committed on the afternoon of 10 May 1988 in front of a coffee shop called Chop Poh Hin, No. 40, Jalan Wong Tsap En, Limbang, in the State of Sarawak.

We do not propose to discuss the facts at any great length because it was proved up to the hilt, and indeed freely admitted by the appellant, that at the time of his arrest he was standing outside the coffee shop, with a black bag slung over his shoulder from which there was recovered - amongst other personal items - a bulk of dried leaves believed to be cannabis wrapped in Chinese newspaper and his Malaysian Passport.

The dried leaves were promptly sent to the Government Chemist Mr. Tan Ching Chee (PW 5) for examination and analysis and he concluded that it was cannabis within the meaning of s. 2 of the Act , in weight 793.85 grammes.

The only defence put forward at the trial before Mr. Justice Dennis Ong Jiew Fook (sitting alone)