SINGAPORE: MALAYSIAN MAN ESCAPES HANGING AFTER BEING ACQUITTED ON DRUG CHARGE BY COURT OF APPEAL

October 20, 2020:

A 38-year-old Malaysian man escaped the noose when he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal on 13 October 2020 of a charge of being a drug courier.
Beh Chew Boo, was arrested in 2016 for allegedly attempting to carry 499.97g of methamphetamine across the causeway. He was sentenced to death in January this year by the High Court.
Despite the acquittal, though, he will continue to be in remand while the Court decides on how it will proceed on other four charges connected to his case, which have been temporarily stood down.
The higher court - presided over by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang and Steven Chong - found, among other things, that there were insufficient grounds to prove that Beh was completely aware that he was ferrying drugs.
This was because his fingerprints and DNA were not on the parcels, and the motorcycle he was riding - on which the drugs were found - was borrowed from a friend and did not belong to him.
Beh was arrested on 26 October 2016, when he entered Singapore from Malaysia at the Woodlands Checkpoint at around 5.20am.