KLANG, Oct 14 — The Magistrate’s Court here today acquitted and discharged a police inspector from the charge of changing a confiscated substance believed to be methamphetamine, weighing an estimated 201.2 grammes to rock sugar (sucrose) which was to be sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis in 2019.
Magistrate P. Sarulatha made the decision after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against Inspector Juliana Shamsuddin, 37, at the end of the its case.
The court had before this, heard the testimony of nine prosecution witnesses during the trial since Juliana pleaded not guilty to the charge on Feb 12.
In her judgment, Sarulatha said some loopholes could not be addressed by the prosecution including control over the investigator’s room key, which raised questions.
Besides, she said the prosecution had failed to call a key witness who was a policeman after his name was mentioned during the trial.
“The prosecution had relied solely on circumstantial evidence. In addition, the charge was also flawed when only one of the 15 transparent plastic packets were tested, raising questions on the other 14 packets,” she added.
Juliana had allegedly committed the offence at the Narcotics Office of the South Klang district police headquarters between 7.30 pm on Jan 4, 2019 and 11.31 am on Jan 10, 2019. The offence under Section 201 of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to seven years and a fine, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Evangelin Simon prosecuted in the case while the accused was represented by lawyer Khairul Naim Rafidi. — Bernama