Michael Denis McAuliffe[2] was a barman from Sydney, born in Queensland, Australia, who was executed in Malaysia in June 1993 for heroin trafficking.
[5] The former army reserve soldier, who had been living in Manly, Sydney, was convicted in the Malaysian High Court in Penang on 17 August 1991.
One argument was that the original trial judge had criticised McAuliffe for failing to disclose his defense after his arrest.
Karpal argued that the original judge's criticism had drawn an adverse inference of guilt on McAuliffe.
The appeal court heard that what the original judge did was point out that McAuliffe had failed to disclose this defence of carrying an aphrodisiac to the officer who recorded a statement from him after his arrest.