Nigerian to Die by Hanging in Malaysia for drugs

A Nigerian man and an Australian nurse face the possibility of death by hanging after a Malaysian court on Tuesday charged them with trafficking methamphetamines. The Australian nurse, Louise L’Aiguille was charged in Kuala Lumpur alongside his Nigerian boy friend, Ndidi Anthony Esikalam two weeks after police said they were arrested for possession of one kg (2.2 pounds) of methamphetamine. Louise L’Aiguille entered the court room  in tears and spoke briefly to some Australian High Commission officials before sitting in the dock, hunched over in distress, for the hearing. No plea was recorded but the Australian’s lawyer said she was innocent and was slapped once by a Malaysian police officer during interrogations.  Drug trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence by hanging in Malaysia, where hundreds of people are on death row, mostly for drug offences. L’Aiguille, from Melbourne, was in a car with her co-defendant when police arrested them, attorney Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters after the court appearance. Police told L’Aiguille, who had been driving, that drugs were later found in the car, he said. Muhammad Shafee said two other Nigerians — L’Aiguille’s boyfriend and another man — had also been in the car but had left the vehicle just prior to the arrests. Police are currently searching for the boyfriend, he added. “She is completely depressed. She just does not understand how all this could be happening to her. She was just driving the car,” Muhammad Shafee said. He said L’Aiguille was a nurse who was in Malaysia as a tourist and had visited the country several times over the past two years. No further details were immediately available on the Nigerian defendant as he was not represented by legal counsel at the hearing. Since 1960, more than 440 people have been executed in Malaysia for drug related offences