By Khushwant Singh
SHE made the headlines by stomping on the roof of a taxi early
this year and then lying down in the middle of Hougang Avenue 9,
causing vehicles to come to a screeching halt.
On Tuesday, Huynh Thanh Ha appeared contrite in the dock of a
district court. With tears running down her cheeks, the Vietnamese
national pleaded guilty to taking drugs the night before her
bizarre behaviour and was jailed six months for drug
consumption.
The 19-year-old, who is married to a Singaporean, was also
jailed two weeks for endangering public safety by acting rashly and
lying down in the middle of a road. As the second sentence was
ordered to run concurrently, she will serve only six months behind
bars.
Asking the court to impose a lenient sentence on Huynh, her
lawyer Tan Cheng Kiong told the court that his client had marital
woes. She had married a 39-year-old Singaporean man in July last
year but found it difficult to settle down here. She would try to
drown her sorrows with liquor and on Feb 15 she met a Vietnamese
woman who passed her a red pill which her new friend claimed would
make her feel much better.
Instead, Huynh ended up intoxicated and committing offences such
as lying on a busy road the next morning, the lawyer said. Two
other charges for causing damage amounting to $428 by stomping on
the roof of the taxi and ignoring police warnings to calm down,
were taken into consideration by the judge when sentencing.
