The 45-year-old daughter of the couple who founded the luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass was sentenced to 22 months of imprisonment on Thursday, October 11 for repeatedly violating the drug laws of the country over two years.
The accused, Audrey Tay May Li, who was a public relation consultant, not only received the jail sentence but also banned from driving for 18 months and faced a fine of $1,000 for driving irresponsibly.
While the convict pleaded guilty to three drug charges and the driving charge on August 27, the court considered another five drug-related charges during sentencing.
As per the court documents, Tay was arrested in August 2015 after she hit a traffic light pole while driving under the influence of the drug ketamine. But, after receiving a bail, she again turned up intoxicated for a psychiatric assessment at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in October 2017.
However, during the hearing, the public prosecutor urged for an imprisonment term of two years and two months. But, the defence lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam argued and stated that Tay's drug abuse was a form of self-medication that was required to release the stress from her life, as she was suffering since the divorce of her parents, Jannie Chan, 72, and Dr Henry Tay, 73 that took place in 2010.
The documents also added that Tay, who is also a divorcee, had to let her eldest daughter go to her former husband in 2014. In addition, her lawyer Thuraisingam said that she was in overwhelming pain and suffered from hopelessness after the incident and as a result of it Tay developed psychiatric issues. Court also heard that the accused was later found to be suffering from adjustment disorder with depressed mood and anxiety, including substance abuse disorder.
But, the Deputy Public Prosecutor Terence Chua said that despite the background details of the accused, "the case is completely ordinary, in terms of the type of conviction, the reasons for consumption, and the accidents that occurred."
Tay is currently out on bail of $80,000, but she will be appealing against the sentence.
