SINGAPORE, March 3 — A Malaysian, awaiting capital punishment for drug trafficking, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, making him the first person to qualify for an exception under Singapore’s revised Misuse of Drugs Act.
The high court today found that Dinesh Pillai Raja Retnam, 31, had proven, on a balance of probabilities, that he only played the role of a courier within the meaning of S33B(3)(a) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed).
According to a statement by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), Dinesh Pillai was found to be suffering from abnormality of mind which substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts within the meaning of S33B(3)(b) of the said Act.
He was accordingly re-sentenced to a term of life imprisonment.
Dinesh Pillai has been psychiatrically assessed to be suffering from major depressive disorder of moderate severity at and around the material time of the offence.
A medical examination also suggested some degree of organic damage to his brain.
The statement said the high court’s finding that Dinesh Pillai qualified for the diminished responsibility exception was consistent with Parliament’s intent in ensuring this exception operated in a measured and narrowly defined way.
It added, this exception extended latitude for consideration in cases like Dinesh Pillai’s, without undermining the Government’s zero-tolerance policy towards drugs.
Dinesh Pillai from Skudai, Johor was sentenced to hang for trafficking in 19.35 grammes of diamorphine in 2011. His appeal was, however, dismissed by the Court of Appeal in August, the following year.
Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in Parliament in November 2012 and came into effect last year. — Bernama
