Daughter of nuclear scientist pleads not guilty to drugs charges
The daughter of a British nuclear scientist facing the death penalty in Malaysia after being allegedly caught with £16,000 of cannabis and heroin has pleaded not guilty to drug offences.
Shivaun Orton, a 41-year-old mother-of-two, was arrested in December along with husband Abdul Harris Fadilah, 46, after police found cannabis, amphetamines and 225gms of heroin when they raided the family home in Malaysia’s northern Terengganu state.
A district magistrate court official said the pair denied the eight counts of possession and trafficking the drugs. Possession of just 15gms of heroin in Malaysia carries the death penalty, while the cannabis charges carry life in jail.
The couple met in Miami but moved to Malaysia in 1995 where the set up and ran a holiday resort called Rantings – a complex of budget chalets and a bar – at Cherating, a popular backpacker coastal town.
Mrs Orton grew up in the Welsh coastal town of Harlech, one of four children in the family of her late father, Mike, a respected scientist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berks.
She claims to have been held a virtual prisoner during almost their whole marriage by her husband who she says forced her to take drugs with him.
The capital charges will be heard in the Malaysia’s High Court while six lesser charges will go before a magistrates’ court. The couple were denied bail as they await the next hearing on March 31.
Drugs police have yet to complete their investigation before forwarding their findings to the state prosecutor, though scientific reports detailing the drugs find have been sent to the court.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Daughter of nuclear scientist pleads not guilty to drugs charges - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
