The prosecution has appealed against an 18-month supervised probation sentence for a serial shoplifter.
District Court Judge Roy Neighbour made his ruling in an effort to rehabilitate the woman further.
But the prosecution wanted Suppiah Muthammah, 56, jailed despite the ruling.
Suppiah had been convicted of theft on 11 occasions since 1981, the last being in January 2004 when she was jailed for four years.
But in September 2007 she stole three nightdresses from a department store in Jurong.
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.
During the case, it emerged that the mother of two grown-up children had committed the offences when she was in a ‘greatly disturbed state of mind’.
Assistant Public Prosecutor T. Sukumaran urged the court to give ‘due weight’ to the view of Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychiatrist Habibul Rahman, who said Suppiah suffered from a major depressive disorder and not kleptomania, a condition which causes people to steal objects uncontrollably.
He pointed out that defence psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow, who testified that Suppiah was a kleptomaniac, was not an ‘independent psychiatrist’.
But the district judge rejected this, noting the prosecution acknowledged Dr. Winslow as an eminent psychiatrist who had worked at the IMH for 20 years and is now a consultant psychiatrist at Raffles Hospital.
The judge added that even Dr. Rahman said she had shown symptoms of an impulse disorder ‘indicative’ of kleptomania.
Both doctors also acknowledged sending Suppiah to jail again would not help in her rehabilitation.
‘A custodial sentence at this point in her life is more likely to negatively affect her recovery,’ said the judge.
He stressed that placing her on probation is not a ‘soft’ sentencing option.
Her lawyer, Mr. Glenn Knight, has urged the court to incorporate a treatment programme as recommended by the psychiatrist as part of the condition of probation.
The court will monitor her progress by conducting a review in three months.
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Probation’s better for shoplifter, says judge
K.C. Vijayan, Straits Times
12 February 2009
The prosecution has appealed against an 18-month supervised probation sentence for a serial shoplifter.
District Court Judge Roy Neighbour made his ruling in an effort to rehabilitate the woman further.
But the prosecution wanted Suppiah Muthammah, 56, jailed despite the ruling.
Suppiah had been convicted of theft on 11 occasions since 1981, the last being in January 2004 when she was jailed for four years.
But in September 2007 she stole three nightdresses from a department store in Jurong.
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.
During the case, it emerged that the mother of two grown-up children had committed the offences when she was in a ‘greatly disturbed state of mind’.
Assistant Public Prosecutor T. Sukumaran urged the court to give ‘due weight’ to the view of Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychiatrist Habibul Rahman, who said Suppiah suffered from a major depressive disorder and not kleptomania, a condition which causes people to steal objects uncontrollably.
He pointed out that defence psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow, who testified that Suppiah was a kleptomaniac, was not an ‘independent psychiatrist’.
But the district judge rejected this, noting the prosecution acknowledged Dr. Winslow as an eminent psychiatrist who had worked at the IMH for 20 years and is now a consultant psychiatrist at Raffles Hospital.
The judge added that even Dr. Rahman said she had shown symptoms of an impulse disorder ‘indicative’ of kleptomania.
Both doctors also acknowledged sending Suppiah to jail again would not help in her rehabilitation.
‘A custodial sentence at this point in her life is more likely to negatively affect her recovery,’ said the judge.
He stressed that placing her on probation is not a ‘soft’ sentencing option.
Her lawyer, Mr. Glenn Knight, has urged the court to incorporate a treatment programme as recommended by the psychiatrist as part of the condition of probation.
The court will monitor her progress by conducting a review in three months.
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