A woman got her 11-year-old son to help out when she went out on harassment assignments for unlicensed moneylenders.

A district court heard on Friday that the 43-year-old housewife took her son to Yishun at 4pm on Sept 7 last year. There, she handed him a can of paint and told him to splash it on the front door of a 10-storey flat. He did as instructed as he was afraid she would punish him if he disobeyed. Meanwhile, she scribbled "O$P$" graffiti on a nearby wall.

She was sentenced to four years and seven months in jail. She was also fined a total of $150,000.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her son, committed 25 offences of assisting a loanshark. These included splashing paint at flats and cars, and allowing the unlicensed moneylenders to use her bank accounts and ATM cards between September last year to July this year. No action has been taken against her son. He is now with his father, who works as a senior engineer with SMRT.