Five-year jail, caning for convict taking methamphetamine

KUALA LUMPUR: A convict, who is undergoing a nine-month jail term for drug possession, will spend a longer time behind bars.
Farid Lumat, 31, has been given a heftier sentence of five years and a stroke of the rotan by the Sessions Court here today, for taking the drug, methamphetamine.
He pleaded guilty to the charge which was read before Sessions judge Wan Mohd Norisham Wan Yaakob.
The court ordered Farid to be jailed from the date of arrest on May 11, with the sentence to run concurrently with the jail term he is currently undergoing at the Kajang Prison.
When imposing the sentence, Wan Mohd Norisham advised the accused not to repeat his offences and hoped he had repented and regretted his action.
Farid was charged with taking the methamphetamine at the Wangsa Maju police headquarters narcotics division's toilet here at 2.35pm on May 11.
Farid, who wore a red jail uniform, was charged under Section 39C(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which provides a maximum seven-year jail term and three strokes of the cane.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor N. Joy Jothi urged the court to impose a punitive sentence to serve as a lesson but Farid, who was unrepresented, appealed for a minimum jail sentence to run concurrently.
"I regret my action, I promise I will not repeat the mistakes," he said. — Bernama