FORMER defence minister Mohamad Sabu’s son will know on October 27 the outcome of his bid to quash the conviction and eight-month jail sentence over a drug abuse case.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah fixed the date after hearing submissions by Ahmad Saiful Islam’s lawyer, Nasar Khan, and deputy public prosecutor Izalina Abdullah.

Earlier, Nasar argued that in the case, police only took one urine sample of the accused and the process of taking the sample was not in accordance with rules.

“There were discrepancies between the testimony of prosecution witnesses regarding the urine sample. Besides that, there were errors in the urine sample bottle exhibit and a defect in the control chain of the sample. The sample was also stored too long before being tested in the laboratory,” he said.

Meanwhile, Izalina said the procedure of taking a bottle of urine sample on the appellant was adequate and in accordance with the law.

“The issue of the urine sample having been tampered with was never raised by the defence to any prosecution witnesses and at no time did the appellant lodge a police report saying he was abused following the allegedly irregular urine sample collection process.

“Therefore, the magistrate was not wrong in sentencing the appellant and there is no factor for the high court to change the magistrate’s findings. We request that the appellant’s appeal be rejected and the sentence upheld,” she said.

According to the charge, Saiful was accused of using THC-type drugs at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur at 2.05am on January 5, 2019.

On June 24, last year, magistrate Mohamad Aizat Abdul Rahim sentenced the accused to eight months in jail after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts in the prosecution case.

The court also ordered Saiful to serve the jail sentence from June 24, last year, and also to undergo a two-year surveillance by the National Anti-Drug Agency after completing the jail sentence.

On July 2, last year, Saiful filed an appeal against the magistrates’ court’s decision on the sentencing.

However, the court allowed his application to stay the execution of the jail sentence pending an appeal in the high court. – Bernama, September 30, 2021.