KUALA LUMPUR – Despite the global outcry over Singapore sentencing drug traffickers to death, the island republic will be hanging one of its own while a Malaysian awaits his fate in court.
Singaporean A. Steven Paul Raj, 57, lost his appeal yesterday and will be facing the death penalty after being found guilty of possessing 35.85g of diamorphine (heroin).
The three-judge bench comprising Andrew Phang Boon Leong, Judith Prakash and Steven Chong upheld his sentence.
He was first arrested on October 24, 2017 and sentenced on September 22, 2021.
The court also rejected his initial defence that he was not trafficking the drugs as they were intended for personal consumption. Later he admitted to occasionally giving the drugs away to friends.
He testified that he consumed up to 24g of diamorphine per day, which the court referred to as “heavy consumption”.
He added that he purchased 35.85g of diamorphine from a dealer so that he would have enough supply during the Deepavali period.
A prison medical officer, who examined him, discovered that Steven only consumed 4g of diamorphine a day for 30 years.
In a separate case, Malaysian Sri Tharean Muthalagan, 27, could be sentenced to death later this year after being caught by Singaporean narcotics officers on April 16, 2018 with 421.06g of methamphetamines.
When delivering judgement on April 29 this year, Singapore High Court judge Ang Cheng Hock said soon after Sri Tharean’s arrest he told arresting officers he had no knowledge of the items in his possession.
Sri Tharean told the court that the packages were obtained in Johor Baru from a man named “Dinesh”, who instructed him to deliver the packages and collect payment.
He added that “Dinesh” told him that the packages contained flavoured tobacco (shisha).
However, his defence was rejected by the court.
Sri Tharean is currently challenging the decision, with an appeal hearing scheduled on May 18.
Singapore was thrust into the global spotlight last month after it went ahead with the execution of Malaysian Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam on April 27 at dawn.
Among the Malaysians on death row is Datchinamurthy Kataiah, who was granted a last-minute stay of execution by the high court pending an appeal hearing. – The Vibes, May 12, 2022
