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http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,189448,00.html
She shoplifts shoes for demanding daughter
Both previously caught for stealing sweets, toys from supermarket
THIS mother's love knows no bounds, even when it comes to crime.
By Crystal Chan
12 January 2009
THIS mother's love knows no bounds, even when it comes to crime.

Punished once for helping her child to steal, she did it again - and was caught again.

In March 2006, housewife Sally (we are not using her real name to protect the identity of her child) was jailed a day and fined $4,000, while her daughter, then 12, was sent to Gracehaven, a children's home, for three years.

They had stolen sweets, snacks and toys costing about $90 from Giant hypermarket in Parkway Parade.

But the punishment was soon forgotten.

On 31 May, mother and daughter shoplifted again because the girl wanted a new pair of shoes.

At the time, the girl was having a weekend break from Gracehaven.

For their latest offence, Sally, 51, was jailed two weeks on 29 Dec, while the Juvenile Court extended her daughter's stay in Gracehaven by 15 months and 25 days.

Computer table
They were shopping for a computer table at Giant's Tampines outlet when the girl demanded new shoes.

The low-income family had money only for the table, as the Chinese Development Assistance Council had sponsored the computer for Sally's elder daughter.

But the girl insisted on a new pair of shoes as her feet were aching.

Not wanting to disappoint her daughter, Sally decided to help her to steal the shoes.

Court papers state that the girl took the shoes, which cost $19.90, from the ladies' shoe department and wore them. She passed her old shoes to Sally, who placed them in a box.

While her daughter made her way out of Giant, Sally hid the box under a rack in the menswear department, after checking that security cameras had not captured her actions.

But Mr Rashid Bakar, 48, a loss prevention officer at Giant, had seen Sally's actions and detained mother and daughter in the carpark.

Sally's lawyer, Mr Jiang Keyue, told The New Paper that his client's circumstances had led her to offend again.

He said: 'She comes from a typical dysfunctional family trapped in the vicious circle of poverty and beset with social problems as a result.

'Sally had attended counselling sessions with her husband to improve their parenting skills. However, their daughters, who were always used to getting their way, didn't respond favourably to their parents' attempts to discipline them.'

Sally's older daughter, 17, was sent to The Tent, a children's home, for being beyond parental control in 2003. She has since been released.

Sally also has an 11-year-old son, who is educationally subnormal.

Sally's younger daughter told psychiatrists at the Child Guidance Clinic that her elder sister taught her to steal and she did so when she could not afford something she wanted.

Mr Jiang added that Sally's husband has to hold down two jobs to support the family and even then, they were still on welfare.

He said: 'Sally tried to look for work but her medical conditions prevent her from working.'

Sally's husband earns only $800 a month from being a gas delivery assistant and an odd-job worker.

Mr Jiang said in court that Sally offered to pay for the shoes on the spot when she was caught.

He said: 'Sally had caved in to her daughter's demands and committed the offence as she didn't want to disappoint her.'

Mr Jiang, who was assigned to the case by the Law Society's Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said Sally was more outspoken than her children but she tended to let them do what they wanted.

'When I met them, the older girl and the younger boy were running around the place and Sally didn't do much to control them.'

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,191308,00.html
TEEN NABBED FOR GLUE-SNIFFING THREE TIMES IN A YEAR, BUT SAYS:
'I'm not addicted'
This misperception common among offenders, who are still mostly the young
WHILE most 14-year-olds are meeting up with friends after school, Joan has to meet up with a different kind of crowd.
By Andre Yeo

31 January 2009
WHILE most 14-year-olds are meeting up with friends after school, Joan has to meet up with a different kind of crowd.

She meets officers at the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) twice a week after she was arrested for glue-sniffing at age 13.

A CNB spokesman said Joan (we are not using her real name as she is a minor) was one of the youngest glue-sniffers arrested so far.

The youngest glue-sniffer nabbed last year was 12.

Though figures on inhalant abuse showed a decrease from 644 arrested in 2007 to 615 last year, it is young people like Joan that the CNB is concerned about.

The reason: Nearly 70 per cent of those arrested last year were below 20.

CNB released its annual drug statistics yesterday. (See figures below.)

Speaking to The New Paper at the office last Tuesday, Joan, who will turn 15 this year, said she first tried glue-sniffing in Secondary 1 at a friend's home.

The Normal (Academic) student said she tried it as she wanted to forget her family problems.
Her parents were constantly arguing, she said.

Joan also felt her parents were not giving her the attention she craved as they doted more on her younger siblings, aged 7 and 6.

Said Joan: 'Maybe they felt I am the eldest so I know more things and they would not need to talk to me.'

Feeling down and hearing from friends that sniffing glue could help her feel better, she took her first whiff in November2007.

From then on, she would sniff glue two to three times a week, using a tube of contact cement each time. She said a tube used to cost 70 cents, but now costs $1 to $2.

But the next month, her father suspected something was amiss when she reeked of glue. Relations between the two had been strained for years.

Dad called cops

With communication between father and daughter non-existent, he didn't wait for her to explain and called the police. Two officers went to their flat to arrest her.

After she was tested positive for inhalant abuse by the Health Sciences Authority, she was given a warning.
But six months later, last June, she relapsed.

Three police officers arrested her and a friend at a multi-storey carpark while they were sniffing glue.

In September last year, she reported to the CNB office at Ang Mo Kio Police Divisional HQ twice a week.

But about two months later, she had another relapse.

Again, the informant was her father.

Joan said: 'My father smelled glue on my body and before I could answer him, he called the police.'

She now has to report to the CNB office until November this year.

Despite two relapses, Joan doesn't think she is an addict.

She said: 'I won't be tempted to do this. I can think better. I won't try to avoid it because I am not addicted.'

The office Joan reports to has been headed by CNB's Deputy Superintendent, Lucy (not her real name), 34, for the past four years.

The CNB requested that we do not use Lucy's real name as she conducts raids and undercover operations against drug addicts and traffickers.

She said some parents did not keep tabs on whom their children mixed with and they often reacted with shock when they received a call from a CNB officer informing them that their children have been arrested.

Her office is responsible for monitoring the drug situation in Ang Mo Kio, Hougang, Yishun, Sengkang and Punggol.

She said the common misconception about glue-sniffing among youths like Joan was that it was not serious.

Said Lucy: 'Many of them did not think they were committing a crime. They thought they were making a mistake and not committing an offence.'

She said some supervisees were so high, they even reported to CNB with plastic bags with traces of glue in them.

Said Lucy: 'When they are on it, they don't think rationally. They get forgetful.'

Serious response

Once there is evidence they have succumbed to their old ways, Lucy said CNB will arrest them immediately and send them to hospitals for blood tests.

Adults who test positive for inhalant abuse will be sent to the Selarang Park Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Changi for treatment.

Juveniles may have their supervisee order extended from the usual six months , depending on whether it was their first time.

Those who relapse too often will be sent to the Juvenile Court where they will be charged with inhalant abuse.

For inhalant abuse, you can be admitted to a rehabilitation centre for treatment for up to six months.

You can also be jailed up to six months or fined $2,000 fine or both.