Tan Xianglong, a 37-year-old Singaporean, has been sentenced to three years and 10 months in jail for attempting to frame his estranged wife by planting cannabis in her car.
The court documents revealed that Tan’s motive was to punish his wife, whom he believed was not contributing enough financially to their marriage.
The couple had been estranged for less than two years after a failed attempt to divorce due to the short duration of their union.
Tan’s actions were particularly egregious, as he knew that his wife could face the death penalty if convicted of drug possession.
The district court handed down the sentence on Thursday.
He consulted lawyers and “came away with the idea that a divorce could happen if one of the parties had a criminal record”, the documents said.
He initially hired a private investigator to gather evidence she was committing adultery, but no proof was found.
This prompted Tan to hatch the scheme to frame his estranged wife by planting weed in her car — describing it to his girlfriend as a “perfect plan”.
Tan bought the drugs on the black market and weighed them at home, finding they came in at 510 grams (18 ounces) — more than the 500-gram threshold that merits the death penalty in Singapore.
“From his research online, he knew that the involved party (his wife) would face the death penalty if convicted of trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis,” the court documents said.
“He nonetheless decided to proceed with his plan as he was very angry with the involved party.”
A laboratory analysis of the drugs, however, showed they only contained 216.17 grams of pure cannabis.
Tan’s wife was arrested after police discovered the drugs in her car, but they found no other incriminating evidence against her.
Police then turned their investigation to Tan, who was subsequently arrested.
The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect, and have called for it to be discontinued.
Singaporean officials, however, contend it has helped make the country one of Asia’s safest.
The city-state carries out the death penalty by hanging.
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