Kuala Lumpur: Lawyers for Emma L’Aiguille, the Australian mother of six accused of drug trafficking and facing the death penalty if convicted, have asked the prosecution to drop the charges, promising that she will act as a witness in any related cases. Ms L’Aiguille, who was arrested in July when police allegedly found more than one kilogram of methamphetamine in the back seat of the car she was driving, made a brief appearance in the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates Court today, when her case was rescheduled for November 9.
Ms L’Aiguille, 34, sobbed as she hugged her mother and sister over the wooden partition that divides the public gallery from the dock where the accused must sit. Prosecutors had been expected to present a chemist’s report today that would confirm the quantity of drugs seized from the car. However, because the report is not yet ready, the case was postponed.
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Ms L’Aiguille has been charged under Section 39B of Malaysia’s Dangerous Drugs Act, which carries a mandatory death sentence for anyone found in possession of 50 grams or more of methamphetamines. If the chemist’s report confirms that the drugs weigh 50 grams or more, lawyers expect her case will be sent to the Kuala Lumpur High Court for trial.
Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Ms L’Aiguille’s lead lawyer, said he had written to the prosecution two weeks ago asking for the charges against Ms L’Aiguille to be dropped. He does not expect to hear from the prosecution until they receive the chemist’s report.
“She will become a witness for whatever she knows about the matter,” he said outside the courtroom.
Mr Shafee said that, if the case was sent to trial, he was “very confident” that Ms L’Aiguille would be acquitted because she had no knowledge of the drugs.
“In Emma’s case, I’m very confident because so far we have found nothing that implicates her,” he said.
However, he conceded that she was facing “very serious” charges”.
“For trafficking the only penalty is death,” he said.
Ms L’Aiguille has told her lawyers that her Nigerian boyfriend and another Nigerian man had been in the back seat of the car, but got out before the police searched the vehicle.
She has not heard from her boyfriend since her arrest and her lawyers have been told that police have so far been unable to find him. Another Nigerian man who was in the car with Ms L’Aiguille has also been charged with trafficking.
“The police must have been observing so it cannot be the case that they never saw the two men leaving the car. I hope they tell the truth and Emma is as good as free,” he said, adding that he suspected the other men were the target of a police operation.
“She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Ms L’Aiguille, who was handcuffed, dressed in black and pulled a scarf over her head when she entered the courtroom, had lost weight since her last court appearance.
Her sister, Amber Lawn, 33, said when she visited Ms L’Aiguille in prison last week, she was “very depressed and very teary but she looked fine”.
Ms L’Aiguille was to meet her family members today before being taken back to Kajang Women’s Prison, just outside Kuala Lumpur.
Ms Lawn said her sister had been living in Malaysia for the past two years, and previously worked in Perth as a nurse. She was born in Perth but raised in the Albury-Wodonga area.
Ms L’Aiguille is the second Australian to be charged with drug trafficking in Malaysia this year.
Dominic Bird, 32, was arrested in March after allegedly trying to sell methamphetamine to an undercover police officer. The Perth man is scheduled to face trial in early December.
The last Australian hanged in Malaysia was Sydney man, Michael McAuliffe, who was put to death in 1993. Two other Australians, Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, both from Perth, were hanged in 1986. All three had been convicted of drug trafficking.
