SINGAPORE: Death-row inmate Yong Vui Kong was Thursday re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane.
High court judge Choo Han Teck said he was satisfied that 25-year-old Yong, a Malaysian, had proven that he acted only as a drug courier.
In 2008, Yong -- then 19 years old -- was sentenced to hang for bringing 47.27 grammes of heroin into Singapore.
Since then, he had tried unsuccessfully to appeal against the sentence.
But on Thursday, the High Court ruled that the Malaysian would be spared the gallows.
Yong's re-sentencing follows changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act, which were passed in Parliament last November and came into effect this year.
The changes allow judges the discretion to sentence a courier to life imprisonment and caning if he is found to have substantively assisted the authorities in the fight against drug-trafficking.
Yong recently received the necessary document from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), certifying that he had helped authorities here to disrupt drug-trafficking activities.
Yong's lawyer M Ravi also argued that his involvement had been restricted to transporting and delivering the drugs.
Yong was only able to provide first-hand observations of events just prior to collecting the drugs, and after handing over the drugs.
Mr Ravi added: "No evidence was adduced in court against Yong of an involvement that went above and beyond what any mule could reasonably be expected to have known...
"If he were a bigger player, presumably, he would have been charged with additional involvement based on his own evidence."
Mr Ravi also pointed out that Yong was not alleged to or shown to have engaged in acts relating to manufacture, production, packaging, sale, distribution, or marketing of the drugs.
Yong's two older brothers said they were relieved by the turn of events.
Yong Yun Leong, older brother of Yong Vui Kong, said: "I'm heartened and happy with the verdict because it gives my brother a second chance of survival.
"It has been very tormenting for us, very difficult. He was sentenced to death so we were mentally prepared, but Vui Kong did not want to give up."
Mr Ravi said: "I'm extremely gratified to see we had a positive outcome today. Numerous constitutional challenges had been filed in court, but all of them were met with negative outcomes."
Yong is the first drug trafficker on death row to be spared the gallows following changes to the law.
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