Dinesh Pillai Raja Retnam, a convicted drug courier, becomes the third person to have his death sentence reduced to life imprisonment under the amended Misuse of Drugs Act.
31-year-old Dinesh Pillai, found to be suffering from an “abnormality of mind” which “substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts”, is also the first to escape hanging due to mental disability.
A medical examination concluded that he suffered from a case of moderately severe major depressive disorder at and around the time of the offence, with some degree of damage to his brain.
The High Court’s judgement is in line with the revised Act, which aims to give genuine cases like Dinesh Pillai due consideration without compromising the government’s tough stance on drugs.
Photo: AFP
Source: Channel NewsAsia
