Appeals Court Dismisses Briton’s Bid For Leave To Appeal Over Transfer Of Drug Case To High Court

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- The Court of Appeal has dismissed a British national’s bid for leave to appeal against a Magistrate’s Court’s refusal to immediately transfer her drug trafficking case to the High Court.

A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Wong Kian Kheong, Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid yesterday allowed the prosecution’s preliminary objection, ruling that Deishanei Ciara Hall’s leave-to-appeal application was incompetent.

In delivering the court’s decision, Justice Wong said the court had no jurisdiction to hear Hall’s application for leave to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to revise the Magistrate’s Court’s decision.

He said there was no decision from either the High Court or the Magistrate’s Court pursuant to Section 50 (1) and (2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

He said Section 41 (A) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 is a mandatory provision and that the Magistrate cannot automatically transfer the case to the High Court without the chemist's report and the public prosecutor’s requisition.

Justice Wong, however, urged the prosecution to speed up the chemist's report so that Hall’s case can proceed without delay.

Hall, 21, must obtain leave from the court because her case originated from the Sepang Magistrates’ Court. Trafficking cases are initially filed in the Magistrates’ Court and subsequently transferred to the High Court.

She was charged at the Sepang Magistrate’s Court in April this year for trafficking in 19,076 grammes of cannabis at the narcotics office in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 12.15 am on April 12 this year.

In August this year, the Magistrate’s Court dismissed Hall’s application for the case to be immediately transferred to the High Court, although the chemist's report has yet to be issued.

Later that month, her lawyers filed an application at the High Court for a revision of the Magistrate’s Court’s decision under Section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Code, but it was dismissed. This prompted Hall to seek leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

In the proceedings yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob raised a preliminary objection, saying that Hall’s application for leave to appeal was incompetent as the decisions of the Magistrate’s Court and High Court were not a final decision that disposed of her rights.

Her lawyer, Michelle Tan Yung Yin,  contended her client’s case should be promptly transferred so an early trial date could be set.

Yesterday’s ruling departed from a previous decision set in PP vs Marwan Ismail, which decided that the case must be immediately transmitted to the High Court.

-- BERNAMA