'DOUBLE DEATH' TO DETER TRAFFICKERS?

After sentencing man to 12 years in jail for possessing heroin, a Malaysian
judge wonders wryly if 'hanging twice' is any option to stop offenders

KUALA LUMPUR -- The death sentence does not necessarily deter offenders
from continuing to traffick in drugs, a High Court judge lamented after
sentencing a man to 12 years' jail for possessing heroin.

"Why is it that even with the death penalty, the number of trafficking
cases is still increasing?" Justice Abdul Wahab Patail asked.

"Have you ever wondered why? I have. Many, many times," he told Deputy
Public Prosecutor Vong Poh Fah, who was asking for a heavy sentence to be
meted out to Sior Kam, who was charged with possessing heroin.

"It shows passing a high sentence doesn't necessarily work. It must be a
fair sentence that will deter the offence from being repeated," said
Justice Abdul Wahab.

He also asked Mr Vong whether the capital punishment should then be
increased to being "hanged twice" to combat the drug menace.

The judge made these remarks in response to the prosecutor's argument that
the court should mete out a heavy sentence which would reflect the gravity
of drug-related offences as intended by Parliament.

Mr Vong said Parliament had in the past 20 years increased the penalties
for drug possession so that the courts could pass stiffer sentences for
drug offences.

The judge was hearing arguments on the sentence to be imposed on Sior, 38,
a snooker-centre employee, who had pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of
possessing 662.96gm of heroin in 1997.

The charge was reduced by the prosecution on Wednesday whereby the maximum
sentence is 20 years' jail and a mandatory 10 strokes of the cane.

Sior had earlier claimed trial to drug trafficking and six prosecution
witnesses, including a chemist and investigating officer Assistant
Superintendent Mohd Ghauth Ismail, had testified in the trial.

The court was told by the chemist that the heroin was of a kind far more
concentrated than that peddled in the streets. Mr Vong, prosecuting, told
the court that the drug, recovered from a car Sior was driving, could be
used for 3,498 shots.

Justice Abdul Wahab, in sentencing Sior, agreed with his counsel Muhammad
Shafee Abdullah that the fact that the heroin was a concentrated type
should not be considered.

He said Sior had admitted knowing that he was carrying drugs but not its
quality. Sior's jail term runs from the date of his arrest on Jan 10, 1997.