Two Malaysian men were acquitted of the death sentence in Singapore after facing drug-related charges.

Both cases, which are unrelated, saw both men initially sentenced to death, but they saw their sentences overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Escaped death sentence twice

One of the cases involving Gobi Avedian, who was caught by border authorities in 2014 and charged with one count of importing not less than 40.22g of diamorphine.

Gobi was a security guard living in Johor Bahru and commuted to work in Singapore at the time of his offence, according to CNA.

He was introduced to a man who told him he could earn money by delivering drugs mixed with chocolate to Singapore, and was told that the drugs were "ordinary" and "not serious", assuring Gobi that he would only be given a fine or small punishment if he was caught.

While Gobi was reluctant at first, he eventually relented as he needed money for his daughter's surgery.

He was initially given the death sentence, but was acquitted by a High Court judge in 2017.

Later in 2018, the prosecution appealed on the grounds that the High Court judge had "erred" in the decision, according to CNA, and the capital charge was reinstated.

On Oct. 19, Gobi's defence lawyer M. Ravi shared that the Court of Appeal has set aside the death sentence on account of a miscarriage of justice.

Instead, Gobi was sentenced to 15 years in prison with effect from the date of his arrest on Dec. 11, 2014, and 10 strokes of the cane.

Unable to fully disprove that accused was completely unaware of drugs in his possession

In a separate ruling, 38-year-old Beh Chew Boo was initially sentenced to death in January 2020, but was acquitted on Oct. 13 by the Court of Appeal.

This was after Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang and Steven Chong found that there were insufficient grounds to prove that Beh was completely aware that he was carrying drugs across the causeway, reported The Straits Times.

He was arrested in October 2016 after he was found with 499.97g of methamphetamine while riding a motorcycle he borrowed from a friend, with his girlfriend riding pillion.

When questioned, Beh said he was unaware of the drugs that were found in the motorcycle.

His fingerprints and DNA were not found on the parcels containing the drugs as well.

Instead, they found the motorcycle owner's fingerprints and DNA on the contents of the parcel.

The motorcycle owner, Beh's friend, was arrested and sentenced to jail in July 2018 for an unrelated drug case.

While he was in prison during Beh's trial in 2019, he was not called to testify.

On the grounds that the prosecution did not call Beh's friend to the stand despite being "readily available to testify", the judge ruled that the prosecution did not manage to fully disprove Beh's defence that he was completely unaware about the drugs found in the vehicle.

However, Beh is still in remand while the court makes a decision on other charges related to his case.

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Top image via Ministry of Law