Woman jailed 10 months for dumping body, theft

Woman jailed 10 months for dumping body, theft

A former drug abuser who helped a friend to dump a dead man and then pocketed his belongings was jailed for 10 months yesterday.

Juwita Mohd Yusof, 36, was convicted last Monday after pleading guilty to the two charges. She also admitted to another two counts of failing to report for drug urine tests as per her supervision order.

The court had heard that on June 2, Juwita and her friend Karim Arshad, 42, went to 38-year-old Ms Ratnawati Samad's flat in Dover Road to console and provide relationship advice after her husband was arrested for drug offences.

They stayed overnight at her home, during which time Karim found another friend, 37-year-old Mr Ramdan Ishak, asleep in the toilet. As Karim helped him out, he found a syringe in Mr Ramdan's back pocket, which he threw down a rubbish chute.

Karim, Juwita and Mr Ramdan then slept in the living room.

The next morning, Juwita found that Mr Ramdan was not breathing. She alerted Karim, who tried to wake him up, but to no avail.

As both of them were wanted by the Central Narcotics Bureau, they decided not to alert the authorities, but to dispose of the body instead.

Karim and Juwita pocketed Mr Ramdan's Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime phone, his sling bag, a blue pen and a pair of white earphones. Then, they carried his body and dumped it at the staircase landing between the sixth and seventh floor of the block.

A neighbour later found the body.

Karim and Juwita were arrested on June 4. Mr Ramdan's belongings were recovered from them.

It was not explained in court how Mr Ramdan died.

Last Monday, Karim was convicted of depositing Mr Ramdan's body, stealing from him, and also heroin consumption. Karim was sentenced to eight years and four months in jail, with six strokes of the cane.

For depositing a body without consent, Juwita and Karim faced up to six months' jail and a $2,000 fine. For misappropriating a dead person's property, they faced up to three years in jail and a fine.

For failing to report for a urine test under the supervision order, Juwita could have been jailed for four years and fined $10,000.

amirh@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Oct 31, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.