PUTRAJAYA, Nov 26 (NNN-BERNAMA) — An Australian grandmother, Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, sentenced to death last year for drug trafficking today escaped the gallows after the Federal Court here acquitted and discharged her of the charge.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled that the 55-year-old Exposto had proven that she had no knowledge of the drugs.
She set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal which found Exposto guilty of trafficking 1.1kg of crystal methamphetamine and the death sentence.
The other judges were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed and Federal Court judges Datuk Setia Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Tan Sri Idrus Harun and Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan.
The mother-of-four who wore a purple floral blouse appeared calm and was smiling when the court announced the decision.
Exposto was arrested at the main terminal of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at about 3.40 pm on Dec 7, 2014. with the drugs.
In Dec, 2017, the Shah Alam High Court acquitted Exposto. However, the Court of Appeal last year overturned her acquittal after allowing the prosecution’s appeal to set aside the High Court’s decision.
The appellate court’s three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki (now retired) convicted Exposto for the offence and sentenced her to death prompting her to appeal to the Federal Court.
In her defence, Exposto claimed that she was tricked into carrying the bag which was handed to her by an African American man in Shanghai, China who sought her help under the pretext of passing clothes as Christmas presents to his relatives in Melbourne.
Exposto was represented by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah while deputy public prosecutor Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi appeared for the prosecution.
Exposto’s son Hugo said all he wanted to do was to take his mother home. Exposto had spent five years in jail in Malaysia.
— NNN-BERNAMA
