A 31-year-old woman was sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail on Tuesday (May 14) for attempting to pass a straw containing a controlled drug to her boyfriend while he was on remand at Changi Prison.
Jamie Lee Xiuling pleaded guilty to taking an unauthorised item into a prison and obstructing the course of justice by providing false information, according to Today.
Lee was visiting her boyfriend, Lim Yan Hua 32, on a weekly basis while he was in remand for drug-related offences. Lim instructed Lee to bring tablets to prison, claiming he needed them to sleep. She crushed the tablets into powder form and hid them in a straw, which she attempted to pass to Lim during a visit.
The prison officers caught Lee in the act and she was subsequently arrested on On May 3, 2023 at about 3.22pm. The seized straw was later confirmed to contain Nimetazepam, a controlled drug used to manage insomnia.
“The seized straw was sent to the Health Sciences Authority for analysis, and the white substance was later revealed to be not less than 1.32g of Nimetazepam. This is a controlled drug used as an anti-convulsive and to manage insomnia”, the report added.
Lee admitted to making a false statement to the Central Narcotics Bureau officer that she had collected eight slabs of 10 orange tablets from someone named “Ah Hua”.
Lee said that “Ah Hua” reportedly dropped off the tablets in a white envelope at a trash bin outside Khatib MRT Station, later she contacted Ah Hua using a phone number given to her by Lim.
She later confessed that the tablets actually belonged to Lim, who had asked her to smuggle them into prison. Lee knew that this act was illegal but fabricated the story about Ah Hua to protect Lim from facing additional charges.
During the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yong recommended a jail term of 13 to 16 weeks for Lee’s offenses. DPP Chong noted that while there was no concrete evidence that she knew the exact nature of the substance in the straw, she was aware that it was prohibited in some way, prompting her to deceive the authorities.
In defense, Lee’s lawyer, Kalidass Murugaiyan, said that his client had nothing personal to gain from the offense and claimed that Lee was in an abusive relationship with Lim, who would manipulate her during prison visits. Mr. Kalidass appealed to the court for leniency, urging them to consider the human aspect of the case.
District Judge Lim Tse Haw acknowledged that Lee had a clean record but highlighted the potential security risks posed by her actions within the prison. The judge noted that even if Lee was unaware that the pills were drugs, she should have realized they could be prescription medication, such as sleeping pills.
“Although there was no evidence that she was aware that the pills were drugs, at the very least she must be aware that they could be sleeping pills, which is a type of prescription,” said the judge as per the report.
Lee’s sentencing was deferred for three weeks to allow her to wrap up her work obligations before beginning her jail term on June 4. The offense of taking an unauthorized item into a prison carries a maximum penalty of 12 months imprisonment or a fine of up to S$3,000, or both.
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