The sentencing of a woman who was put on probation despite being a serial shoplifter is being appealed by prosecutors.

They want her jailed in contrast to the judge who ruled that probation offered her a better chance at rehabilitation, based on the assessment of two doctors.

Madam Suppiah Muthammah, 56, had been convicted for theft on 11 occasions since 1981, the last being in September 2007 when she was jailed for stealing three night dresses from a department store in Jurong.

But when the court was considering her for probation for this offence, she stole again, this time $310 from a wet market in Jurong West last October.

District Judge Roy Neighbour sentenced Suppiah to 18 months's supervised probation for the two offences last month.

But Mr T Sukumaran for the prosecution argued a preceding landmark case did not apply as Madam Suppiah had not been 'rigorously diagnosed' to be a kleptomaniac.

He urged the court to give 'due weight' to Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist Habibul Rahman who said she suffered from a major depressive disorder and not kleptomania.

He pointed out that defence psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow who testified she was a kleptomaniac was not an ' independant psychiatrist. '

Rejecting this, DJ Neighbour noted the prosecution acknowledged Dr Winslow as an eminent psychiatrist who had worked at IMH for 20 years and is now a consultant psychiatrist at Raffles Hospital.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.