Yahoo – AFP,
Patrick Lee, 27 December 2017
Exposto is escorted upon arrival in court before her acquittal
|
An
Australian grandmother who said she was tricked into carrying drugs into
Malaysia after falling for an online romance scam was Wednesday cleared of
trafficking, a crime punishable by death.
Maria
Elvira Pinto Exposto wept and hugged her son after being found not guilty of
smuggling crystal methamphetamine, a rare outcome in a country where hundreds
of people have been sentenced to death for drugs offences in recent years.
"I'm
happy now that I'm free," said the 54-year-old, as she was ushered out of
the courtroom after the verdict.
But
prosecutors have indicated they want to appeal the acquittal, her lawyer said,
meaning Exposto won't be able to go back home yet and there is still a chance
she could be sentenced to death.
She was
arrested in December 2014 while in transit at Kuala Lumpur airport with 1.1
kilos (2.4 pounds) of the drug stitched into the compartment of a backpack she
was carrying.
The mother
of four argued she did not know about the hidden stash of "ice". She
said she had been fooled into carrying the bag after travelling to China to see
someone she met online called "Captain Daniel Smith", who had claimed
to be a US serviceman.
Anyone
caught with at least 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of crystal meth is considered a
trafficker in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and death by hanging is mandatory in
the case of a conviction.
However
handing down his verdict at the High Court in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur,
Judge Ghazali Cha accepted the defence's argument that Exposto did not know the
bag contained drugs and acquitted her.
"I agree
with the defence lawyer that the accused did not have knowledge about the
drugs," he said.
"I
believe that at that time her (Exposto) feelings of love towards 'Captain
Daniel Smith' overcame everything, including her own husband, her family and
her future."
Hundreds
on death row
Exposto's
lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah welcomed the verdict but said he was surprised
at prosecutors' intention to appeal as the judge had sided firmly with the
defence. Prosecutors have 14 days to lodge the challenge.
After
engaging in a long online romance, Exposto had travelled to Shanghai to see
"Smith".
But she did
not succeed in meeting her supposed love interest while there and ended up
being given a bag by a stranger, who asked her to take it to Melbourne.
When she
arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to change flights, she mistakenly
went through immigration as she was unfamiliar with the airport.
She
voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were
discovered.
There are
at least 900 people on death row in Malaysia, officials have said, but
executions have been rare in recent years.
Malaysian
lawmakers voted last year to amend legislation so that capital punishment is no
longer mandatory in drug-trafficking cases.
But the
changes have not yet come into force as they must be passed by the upper house,
meaning that in the case of a conviction in Exposto's case, the judge would
have had to impose the death penalty.
Two
Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking -- the first
Westerners to be executed in the country -- in a case that strained relations.
In 2013
Dominic Bird, a former truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug
trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal
methamphetamine.
Australian grandma escapes death penalty in Malaysia drugs case: Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, who said she was tricked into carrying drugs into Malaysia after falling for an online romance scam, has been cleared of trafficking, a crime punishable by death https://t.co/i0tFYnOqtx pic.twitter.com/U5l9fH2NPZ— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 27, 2017
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