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SINGAPORE – A 61-year-old man who escaped from the gallows more than two decades ago for killing a Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officer has been sentenced to death for trafficking in heroin.
In a written judgment published on Monday (November 2), Judge Valerie Thean rejected Roshdi Abdullah Altway’s story that he was simply putting away the drugs and that the $ 18,000 found on him was destined for an anchovy delivery.
In 1994, the Court of Appeal overturned the murder conviction of Roshdi, who was 35 at the time, and instead was sentenced to 10 years in prison for wrongful death.
Later, the high court found that Roshdi, who was a CNB informant, had hit Inspector Rajab Mohamed, 35, with a granite mortar in self-defense, as he thought the officer was going for his revolver.
His 10-year sentence was ordered to run consecutively with a six-year term for illegal possession of a revolver and six bullets.
In 2007, Roshdi was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 10 strokes of the baton for trafficking Subutex tablets and for drug use.
In September 2016, he was arrested on the empty deck of an apartment block on Compassvale Lane with $ 18,000 in cash.
Packages of drugs were found in his rented room in the block, which were then analyzed to contain 78.77 g of heroin.
The prosecution relied primarily on Roshdi’s statements, arguing that there was sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was in possession of the drugs for trafficking purposes.
In his remarks, Roshdi admitted that the drugs in his room were for sale and that he had repackaged and delivered drugs multiple times.
But during his trial, Roshdi backtracked on what he had said.
He claimed that he was only saving the prepackaged drugs for a person named Aru and that he intended to return them all the time.
He claimed that the $ 18,000 he was carrying was for a delivery of anchovies.
Roshdi challenged the admissibility of his statements, claiming that CNB agents had induced him to make them and told him there was a “new law” and that he would not be hanged if the drugs did not belong to him.
Judge Thean rejected this, saying there was no reason for Roshdi to trust the officers about the alleged statements.
Furthermore, according to his own account, Roshdi was suspicious of CNB officers, due to his previously served jail terms for murder and drug trafficking.
“In light of Roshdi’s history and personal circumstances, Roshdi was expected to be skeptical and cautious, not confident and unquestioned,” the judge said.
Judge Thean added that Roshdi was explicitly informed about the possibility of a death sentence.
The judge said the items found in Roshdi’s room, which included three heroin-stained scales, supported the narrative of the statements rather than the version he gave at trial.
He added that Roshdi could not give a “lucid reason” for the cash, noting that $ 18,000 would have produced 3,000 kg of anchovies, based on its declared price of $ 6 per kg.
This explanation of the cash was also inconsistent with the one he gave in his statements, where he claimed that the money was for a delivery of smuggled cigarettes.
“Roshdi’s stated willingness to lie, along with his illogical responses on the stand, went to questions of general credibility and was consistent with my conclusion that the statements, rather than his version on the stand, were reliable,” said the Judge Thean.
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