Guinean student to hang for drug trafficking

KUALA LUMPUR: A college student of Guinean nationality was sentenced to death by hanging by the High Court here yesterday after he was found guilty of trafficking in 3,304.6g of cocaine.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan handed down the sentence on Emmanuel Kamano, 29, after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the prosecution’s case.

In the judgment, Nordin said the court found that the accused had knowledge of the drug, which was coated with chocolate and placed in a plastic bag.

“The accused failed to rebut the presumption of ownership (of the drug) and the large amount (of drug involved), is for the purpose of distribution. Therefore, the accused is convicted of the offence and sentenced to death by hanging,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kamano’s friend, a Nigerian businessman, was acquitted and discharged of the same charge.

Nordin said Ifeanyi Atuenyi, 39, who was named the first accused, had no knowledge of the drug and his testimony was in tandem with his reaction when caught by the police.

Atuenyi had a car rental service and it was not unusual for him to bring the second accused to Kepong in his vehicle, he added.

Atuenyi and Kamano were jointly charged with trafficking in the drug at the MRR2 Expressway, Kepong-Sungai Buloh here, at 6.15 pm on June 22, 2015.

Five prosecution witnesses and four defence witnesses were called to testify during hearing of the case which began on Oct 4 last year.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Ezrene Zakariah, while Atuenyi and Kamano were represented by lawyers Datuk N. Sivananthan and Norman Mohd Nasir, respectively. – Bernama