Salim Sabeer & Ors v Public Prosecutor

Appellant(s): Salim Sabeer

Respondent(s):

• Pendakwa Raya
• [Pendakwa Raya]

• YA Dato' Ahmad Zaidi Bin Ibrahim
• YA Dato' Paduka Azman Bin Abdullah
• YA Datuk Noorin binti Badaruddin

• The five appellants were charged in the High Court with two counts of trafficking dangerous drugs (methamphetamine and ketamine) under Section 39B(1)(c) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, and one count of possession of dangerous drugs (pseudoephedrine) under Section 9(1) of the Poisons Act 1952.
• A police raid on an oil palm plantation property led to the apprehension of the appellants in or around a building suspected to be a drug manufacturing laboratory.
• Evidence included significant quantities of dangerous drugs, drug manufacturing apparatus, DNA evidence from grooming items, and personal documents linking the appellants to the premises.

• Whether the prosecution had established the elements of possession and trafficking of dangerous drugs and possession of poison against all appellants.
• Whether the High Court erred in failing to draw adverse inferences against the prosecution for not calling certain witnesses (the tenant, an initial detainee, and a "Chinese couple").
• Whether the High Court correctly admitted photographs as secondary evidence under Section 65(1)(c) of the Evidence Act 1950 and correctly presumed the competency of the government chemist.

• The Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the convictions for all charges, finding that the prosecution had proven the elements of possession and trafficking, including the physical and mental elements, and that the High Court had conducted a maximum evaluation of the evidence.
• The Court found no error in the High Court's refusal to draw adverse inferences, as the non-calling of certain witnesses did not negate the overwhelming evidence of the appellants' custody, control, and knowledge of the drugs.
• The Court affirmed the High Court's decision to admit photographs as secondary evidence under Section 65(1)(c) of the Evidence Act 1950 due to the destruction of the original digital files, and upheld the finding on the chemist's expertise.
• While upholding the convictions, the Court set aside the mandatory death sentences for the drug trafficking offences, replacing them with 30 years imprisonment and 12 strokes of whipping for each appellant, in line with the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023; the sentence for the Poisons Act offence was upheld.