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Brothel boss spared jail for sake of baby

Other News Materials 12 June 2008 05:34 (UTC +04:00)

A brothel boss was spared a jail sentence for the sake of her 9-month-old baby girl, news reports said on Thursday, dpa reported.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur fined China national Li Chunmei 15,000 Singapore dollars (11,194 US dollars) instead to prevent the child from being raised in prison.

Li, convicted on charges of corruption, ran the brothel in an illegal massage parlour between March and December 2006, The Straits Times said. She collected 100 Singapore dollars (74 US dollars) a day from prostitutes.

Although Li, 40, had been given three weeks to find someone to care for the baby, Li told the court she could not find anyone.

Raising a child in prison is "not in the best interests of the child," Jasvender was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"It is with a sense of mercy - not towards you, but towards your baby, that I have decided to take the exceptional step" of imposing a sentence which no doubt will be considered lenient but is within the range of reasonable exercise of discretion, the judge said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ravneet Kaur said Li had rejected an arrangement by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to care for the baby.

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