MUAR: Having hypertension, kidney problem and blindness in his right eye as a result of diabetes saved a 58-year-old man from the gallows.

Mansor Md. Sirat was also spared the rotan after he pleaded guilty to an amended charge of possessing 1,615g of ganja in 2006.

Instead, Mansor was sentenced to nine years jail by High Court Judicial Commissioner Ahmadi Asnawi.

In mitigation, Mansor's counsel G. Subramaniam Nair asked the court for a lenient sentence saying Mansor was an old man and suffered from several illnesses.

He said Mansor, who had seven children, had hypertension, kidney problem and was blind because of diabetes.

He also told the court that Mansor, who was arrested after a police team raided his house, needed a cataract surgery in his right eye.

Ahmadi said the court had taken Mansor's age and illnesses into consideration in sentencing the man to nine years jail and no rotan.

According to the facts of the case, Mansor, who was initially charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1951, was arrested after police found some 1,615g of ganja in his car parked outside his house on April 22, 2006.

-The Star/Asia News Network