The High Court today acquitted a couple of two counts of trafficking 10.8kg of cannabis after ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against them.
Justice Jamil Hussin ruled that the evidence presented did not sufficiently link Shahul Salim, 25, and his wife, Roshinee Jeevakumar, 25, both nasi lemak sellers, to two separate seizures of the drug in 2021.
Jamil found that there were “material gaps” in the case, saying the prosecution failed to exclude the possibility that others had access to the car and the apartment where the drugs were found.
He said two key witnesses – the car’s owner, and another person present at the time of the couple’s arrest – were not called despite their testimony being central to the prosecution’s version of events.
Failure to call these witnesses invited an adverse inference under the Evidence Act, and weakened the prosecution’s case beyond repair, Jamil said.
The couple, who had been in custody since their arrest in 2021, smiled as they were discharged and reunited with their family.
The court was told that police arrested Shahul and Roshinee, who were in a car, in Sentul on Feb 16, 2021, and found a paper bag with five bundles containing 4,918.9g of compressed cannabis leaves in the back seat.
Police then escorted the couple to their apartment near Jalan Sultan Ismail, where another six bundles of cannabis weighing 5,885.7g were allegedly discovered in two kitchen cabinets.
In her opening statement, deputy public prosecutor Anis Wahidah Mohamad said the prosecution intended to rely on both direct and circumstantial evidence, along with presumptions under Section 37(da) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, to prove the couple’s knowledge, custody and control of the seized drugs.
Lawyers Geethan Ram Vincent and Lavinia Raja represented the accused.
Under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act, a conviction for drug trafficking carries the mandatory death sentence or life imprisonment with not fewer than 15 strokes of the cane.
