21 May 2012 :

a man and a woman from the Philippines escaped the gallows after their death sentence imposed by the High Court for trafficking in 867.1 grams of cannabis was set aside by the Court of Appeal. Court of Appeal judges Datuk Ramly Haji Ali, Dato’ Azhar Izhar Haji Ma’ah and Dato’ Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim however convicted Jalimah Salleh, 44, and Aldipal Hadani, 54, of a lesser offence of possessing the drugs and sentenced the duo to 15 years’ jail. The custodial sentence was ordered to run from the appellants’ date of arrest on July 22, 2008. The three judges, in allowing an appeal by Jalimah and Aldipal against the death sentence imposed by the High Court two years ago, ruled that it was not safe to convict both appellants on their original charge under Section 39B (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 and subsequently reduced it to drug possession under Section 6 of the DDA, punishable under Section 39A (2) (r) of the same Act. The original charge provides the mandatory death sentence while the reduced charge carries life imprisonment or a jail term of not less than five years and whipping of not less than 10 strokes. However Jalimah and Aldipal were spared the whipping due to gender and age factors respectively. The three judges made the unanimous decision after hearing arguments from counsel Ronny Cham,
who acted for both appellants and reply from deputy public prosecutor Mohd Abahzafree Mohd Abbas. The High Court here had on June 25, 2010, sentenced the duo to death after finding them guilty of trafficking in the drug by the roadside in Jalan Sulaman Bypass, Menggatal at 12.10pm on July 22, 2008.