KUALA LUMPUR: An ex-flight attendant and his two associates were each sentenced to life imprisonment and 18 strokes of the rotan by the High Court today after being convicted of trafficking 707.05g of cannabis and cultivating plants four years ago.
Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid ordered Karthik Kannathasan, 40, former factory manager Praveen Chandrasegaran, 35, and ex-salesman Muhammad Afiq Mohd Ali, 26, to serve their sentences starting from their arrest on Dec 14, 2021.
The judge ruled that the trio, who faced two joint charges, failed to raise a reasonable doubt during the defence's case.
For the first charge, Azhar sentenced each of the accused to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the rotan.
For the second charge, they were sentenced to life imprisonment and six strokes of the rotan, with both sentences to run concurrently.
The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Syajaratudur Abd Rahman, while the defence team included lawyers M. Mathavan, M. Manoharan, and Mohd Yusoff Awang Lah.
The trial, which began in September last year, featured testimony from 10 prosecution witnesses, while the accused acted as their own defence witnesses.
The first charge read that they had jointly trafficked 707.05g of cannabis, an offence punishable by the death penalty under Section 39B(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
The second charge involved the joint cultivation of cannabis plants, punishable by life imprisonment and at least six strokes of the rotan under Section 6B(1)(a) of the same act.
They committed the offences at 10am on Dec 14, 2021, at a condominium unit in Pantai Sentral.