Jail term for woman who drove without licence dropped
By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY | Posted: 14 April 2010 0940 hrs
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="260"> <tbody><tr> <td align="right" width="20"></td> <td align="right" width="240">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td class="update"></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
SINGAPORE : A woman who drove a car without a licence because she wanted to get her son a toy successfully appealed on Tuesday against being sent to jail for the offence.
Housewife Catherine Peter, 41, had in January been sentenced to six weeks' jail, fined S$500 and disqualified from driving for four years on charges of driving without qualification and for other traffic offences. Her driving licence had been suspended for two years because of a drink-driving incident in April last year.
In the August incident, Peter, the wife of a commercial airline pilot, had driven to a nearby mall when her six-year-old son, complaining of an earache, demanded that she get him a toy scooter. She decided not to wait for her husband and, after several fruitless attempts to get a taxi, drove to the mall, the court was told.
Appealing to keep her out of jail, lawyer Naresh Mahtani said Peter had to take care of her children, aged six and nine, while her husband was away on flight assignments.
Justice V K Rajah decided to set aside the jail sentence, saying that Peter was not likely to repeat the offence. He added that "this decision does not signify the present judicial status ... but it is a one-off case that commands a departure from the norm".
Peter had paid the fine imposed earlier for drink driving, served five days in jail and been disqualified from driving. She now has to pay a fine of S$2,500. Her four years' disqualification from driving stands.
- TODAY/il
