SINGAPORE, Sept 26 — A father of two children was hauled to court yesterday after he gave his teenage son drugs to consume when asked.

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge each of permitting a young person to consume drugs, possession of a controlled drug and consumption of a specified drug.

Another five drug-related charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing on October 4, after he was granted a deferment to settle personal matters.

He is now held in a drug rehabilitation centre.

He and his two children — a 15-year-old daughter and his 14-year-old son — cannot be named due to a court order protecting the identities of the children.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lim Li Ting said that on May 6 at about 6.30am, Central Narcotics Bureau officers went to the man’s home because he was suspected of being involved in drug activities.

In the home, officers found several drug apparatuses and drugs in the living room and his son’s bedroom.

This included an empty straw, several utensils for consuming drugs and two packets of crystallised substances, among other things.

The two packets of crystallised substances were later found to contain a total of 0.25g of methamphetamine, also known as meth or ice. It is a Class A Controlled Drug under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act.

Investigators found that since early April this year, the man had bought meth from an unidentified person at S$50 (RM160) per 0.5g for his consumption. Court documents did not state how much he had bought.

Between April 29 and May 6 this year, his son approached him and asked for some meth.

The man had found out sometime late last year that his son had been buying and smoking meth.

"At that time, the accused had a packet of methamphetamine in his possession and gave the same to his son,” DPP Lim said.

"The accused permitted his son to smoke the drug although he knew that his son was 14 years old at that time.”

The man did not receive any payment from his son for the drugs, DPP Lim added.

The two packets of meth that the anti-narcotics officers found contained the remains of the meth that the man and his son had smoked before the team arrived at their home.

DPP Lim also said that on May 6, the man provided two bottles of urine samples. An analysis of these samples showed the presence of meth.

Investigations later revealed that he had been smoking meth every two to three days in his home using an improvised glass bottle with a rubber tube. On several occasions, his teenage daughter had witnessed him smoking the drug.

This was even though he had been in a drug rehabilitation centre for the consumption of morphine and meth since March 15, 2022.

He had also been on a community-based programme, which aims to engage inmates in meaningful and productive work or skills training to help them integrate in society.

On April 22 this year, while outside the centre, he absconded. This was related to a charge taken into consideration.

DPP Lim called for a total sentence of between six years and seven months’ jail to seven years’ jail.

She said: "Besides permitting his son to smoke controlled drugs, it was aggravating that the accused had personally supplied him with such drugs for free.”

She also noted that the man had several brushes with the law and has a history of drug consumption dating back to 1992.

"The total sentence does keep with the accused’s past record and future prospects.

"Besides being a repeat offender for drug consumption and possession, in this instance, he had also exposed his young child to drug consumption and permitted his other child to consume drugs,” she added.

"The sentence must be sufficiently high to achieve both specific and general deterrence.”

The man, who is not represented by a lawyer, told the court that he admits his mistake and is remorseful.

He said that he has elderly parents to care for and his daughter is sitting for her O-Level examinations this year.

"It’s not that I want to give the drugs to my son — I have my own reasons for doing so,” he added, although he did not elaborate on what the reasons were.

For permitting a young person to consume drugs, he could be jailed for up to 10 years.

For possessing a controlled drug, he could be jailed for two to 10 years or fined up to S$20,000, or both.

For consuming a specified drug, the maximum penalty is a jail term of five to seven years and three to six strokes of the cane, although the law does not allow for anyone over the age of 50 to be caned as in the man’s case.

Since he had been convicted for these drug-related offences before, he faces an enhanced punishment for possessing and consuming drugs. — TODAY