Man who got underage girlfriend to deliver drugs sentenced to 10 years and nine months' jail, 10 strokes of the cane
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
SINGAPORE - A man who got his underage girlfriend to deliver drugs for him has been sentenced to jail of 10 years and nine months and 10 strokes of the cane.
The 24-year-old man has not been not named, as it could lead to the identification of the girl, now 16 but aged 15 at the time of the offence in 2019.
Her identity is protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The man pleaded guilty on Friday (March 26) to one count each of instructing a young person to traffic methamphetamine - also known as Ice - drug possession, drug consumption and loan-shark harassment.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur took into consideration 10 other charges - eight for sexual penetration of a minor and two for drug-related offences - in sentencing.
The court heard that the man was a part-time packer for Sats, the chief ground-handling and in-flight catering service provider at Changi Airport.
He had been in a relationship with the girl since February 2019. Court documents do not state if they are still together.
In October 2019, Central Narcotics Bureau officers began targeting the man, who had been selling Ice for a few months.
One of the officers contacted him and arranged to buy drugs.
The girl delivered Ice to the undercover officer at the lift landing of a Housing Board block in Toa Payoh on Oct 3, 2019, while the man was standing some distance away.
Six days later, the officer ordered more Ice from the man.
The man arranged for the girl to hand the drugs to the officer at a HDB block in Sengkang. He was not present at the meeting point but was with his mother in another part of the housing estate.
The girl and the man were arrested later that day.
He was taken to his residence, where a packet containing Ice was found in his room.
Samples of his urine were also taken and found to contain traces of methamphetamine.
"The accused admitted that he last smoked Ice in the morning before his arrest, together with (the girl)," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim.
The court heard that the man committed loan-shark harassment on June 22, 2019, by securing the gate of a flat in Toa Payoh with a padlock and leaving a debtor's note there, after being instructed by a loan shark who promised to pay him for his efforts.
The girl, who was accompanying him, helped him film his acts of harassment.
Court documents state that the man later received $50 from the loan shark and used about $40 of it on online betting.
District Judge Kaur backdated the jail sentence to Oct 11, 2019, when the man was remanded.
The judge said she hoped the man furthers his education in jail, "so that when you come out of prison, you can start your life afresh and not come before the courts again".
Instructing a young person to traffic drugs can bring a jail term of up to 30 years and 15 strokes of the cane. The minimum sentence for this offence is 10 years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane.
