The Alor Star High Court sentenced Nigerian student John Amaechi Eze, 23, to death by hanging after finding him guilty of trafficking 16,936 g of cannabis.[1][2] Judicial Commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab handed down the sentence on 22 January 2013 after finding the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.[1]
Eze, a student at a private college in Kuala Lumpur, was charged with committing the offence in front of Dewan Lye Huat Garden in Jitra at about 9.30 pm on 10 May 2011.[1] He told the court he had been waiting to board an express bus at a restaurant there when police arrested him and denied owning the luggage.[2] The court rejected that account after witnesses testified that he had been with the luggage the whole time.[2]
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Nor Hasnita Wan Daud prosecuted the case and lawyer Ali Munawar Razak represented Eze.[1] Eze, who looked calm at sentencing, asked to contact his family in Nigeria and said he had not contacted them since his arrest.[1]