Satyamoorthy a/l Sundramoorthy v Public Prosecutor

Appellant(s): Satyamoorthy A/L Sundramoorthy

Respondent(s): Pendakwa Raya

• YA Datuk Mohamed Zaini Bin Mazlan
• YA Datuk Hayatul Akmal binti Abdul Aziz
• YA Datuk Meor Hashimi bin Abdul Hamid

• The appellant was arrested at a petrol station while inflating his motorcycle tyre after police discovered a plastic bag in the vehicle's carrier basket containing 16.9 grams of heroin and monoacetylmorphine.
• The appellant contended he was an "innocent carrier" delivering the package for a third party who had informed him the contents were Indian ginseng medicine, and he subsequently assisted the police in locating and arresting that individual.
• The High Court convicted the appellant of drug trafficking under section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, sentencing him to 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the rotan.

• Whether the trial judge erred in admitting and relying upon an "admission" made by the appellant to police officers after his arrest without the administration of a statutory caution.
• Whether the prosecution’s failure to call or offer the third party who allegedly provided the drugs—a material witness—justified the invocation of an adverse inference under section 114(g) of the Evidence Act 1950.
• Whether the trial judge committed a misdirection in law by failing to conduct a separate evaluation of whether the appellant had rebutted the statutory presumption of trafficking on a balance of probabilities.

• The Court set aside the trafficking conviction, ruling that statements made post-arrest without a caution are inadmissible and that the failure to call the material witness created a significant "gap" in the prosecution's narrative.
• The Court held that the trial judge misdirected herself by failing to specifically determine if the defence had rebutted the presumption of trafficking, especially given the consistent "innocent carrier" defence raised from the outset.
• The Court substituted the conviction with a charge of possession under section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, reducing the sentence to 10 years’ imprisonment and 10 strokes of the rotan.