JAILED....Preeta Nivashani M Rechnam was sentenced to 7 years and 3 months. Photo credit: Central Narcotics Bureau, Singapore
A RECALCITRANT drug addict in singapore has been spared the cane as he is now a she. Preeta Nivashani M. Rechnam underwent a sex change operation in Thailand in 2006.
The 40-year-old is now considered a woman and had been remanded in the Changi Women’s Prison since Dec 10 last year, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Kenneth Wong.
She was sentenced Monday to seven years and three months in jail for consuming syabu.
As Preeta had served the Long-Term Imprisonment 1 (LT1) sentence of five years and three strokes of the cane in 1998 for abusing morphine, she was liable for enhanced punishment as an LT2 offender.
Addicts who return to consuming drugs after going through the level-one punishment, are jailed between seven and 13 years. Male offenders are also caned between six and 12 strokes.
DPP Wong had told the court then that she was arrested after midnight on Dec 2 last year with two men in a room at Oxley Hotel in Geylang.
Tests by the Health Sciences Authority revealed traces of syabu and heroin in her urine. The charge for consuming heroin was taken into consideration by district judge Liew Thiam Leng in sentencing her.
Lawyers said it was unlikely for a man to change sex just to escape caning for an offence. (The Straits Times)
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