On 6 July 2011 at about 9.45pm, Azaman bin Aziz arrived at a pre-determined spot by the roadside in front of electricity pole VT SPWA 17 and TS B 20 on Jalan Terusan, Simpang Lima, in Kerian district, to sell cannabis to PW5, an undercover police officer who had been introduced to him as a buyer some days earlier.[1] A police party lying in ambush caught him red-handed with the cannabis, which the chemist confirmed weighed 1,793 grams.[1] The charge stated that he trafficked the drug at that place and time under section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death sentence.[1]
In his defence Azaman said the cannabis had actually been procured by a police informer named Muzammil and that he was merely delivering it to PW5 on Muzammil’s behalf, but the trial judge found Muzammil’s name was raised for the first time only at the defence stage and treated the story as an afterthought.[1] The High Court in Taiping found him guilty of trafficking and imposed the mandatory death sentence.[1]
Appeal
On appeal Azaman argued that the prosecution had not proved the weight of the cannabis because the chemist’s weighing machines were not shown to be calibrated, that the trial judge had wrongly evaluated the material witnesses, that the informer’s secrecy should not have been protected, and that PW5 was not credible.[1] The Court of Appeal held that the defence, having made no submission of no case to answer, had implicitly conceded the prima facie case including the weight, that the chemist’s unchallenged evidence had to be accepted, and that the trial judge’s findings carried no appealable error.[1] On 4 April 2017 the court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the conviction and death sentence.[1]