A 61-year-old man who escaped the death penalty 26 years ago after killing a Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officer has been sentenced to hang for drug trafficking.
In 1994, the man was sentenced to 10 years of jail for culpable homicide instead of being hung for his offence of killing a CNB officer. His murder charges were overturned after appealing in court.
At that time, the man defended himself claiming that he hit the CNB officer with a granite mortar in self-defence as he thought that the officer was going to shoot him with his revolver.
In 2007, the man was once again jailed for trafficking Subutex tablets and drug consumption.
In 2016, the man was arrested under a void deck at Compassvale Lane with a total of $18,000 with him. Packets of heroin weighing 78.77g were found in his rented flat when the police conducted a raid in his unit.
In the man statement, he initially admitted that the drugs were for sales after he repacked them. However, he later changed his statement stating that he was only holding on to the drugs on behalf of a man known as Arun whom he intended to return the drug to. The man then claimed that the cash was from the delivery of anchovies.
During the court hearing, the judge rejected the man’s claim as he was unable to justify the source of the $18,000 and based on the fact that $18,000 would yield 3000 kg of anchovies.